


that's how we deal with boys like me.

by mugsandpugs



Category: Fruits Basket
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Mine/Ayame, Dysfunctional Family, Family Drama, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, Past Child Abuse, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2020-02-16 10:51:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 41,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18690013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mugsandpugs/pseuds/mugsandpugs
Summary: After Haru reveals that Yuki has been abused almost to the point of death, he schemes with Kyo and Rin to bust him out of the Sohma compound. The four kids live together on the run from their abusive families, relying on each other to stay alive and heal.AU where tween Kyo and Yuki become friends while living on the run.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! It's so funny this reboot has inspired me to write for Furuba again, when [this was the first fandom I ever wrote for,](https://arterial-scribblings.tumblr.com/post/184480756673/since-fruits-basket-is-seeing-a-comeback-with-the) almost a decade ago. It's good to be back! 
> 
> This story takes place when Kyo and Yuki are roughly 12/13 years old. The timeline is a little ??? so I ask y'all to be a little forgiving of inconsistencies.
> 
> Title comes from [this song.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-vBPbuzQkc)

They’d planned and plotted everything into the early hours of that morning, yet Kyo felt no more prepared for this than he had the night before. There were so many ways for everything to come toppling down around their ears, and _then…_

 Well. He supposed _he_ didn't have that much to risk. He was the cat, after all. His fate had been signed, set, and sealed before he’d ever left the womb. But Haru? Rin? _Yuki?_

It didn't bear thinking about. They’d simply have to get everything right, was all. They had no room for mistakes.

“Can you see me?” he asked Rin, voice low as he sank back into the shadows of a doorway. 

There were many doorways in the main Sohma mansion; let alone the entirety of the estate. The place was positively enormous. If he wanted to walk around the building, it would take him days to visit every single room. Even with his feline sense of smell, he was likely to get lost.

He heard the shift of Rin’s long hair and starched dress — he had to hand it to her; when she wanted to look like a pristine doll, she pulled it off every time — as she moved around, looking at him from all angles.

“Your eyes are glowing a little," she pointed out. “But if I wasn‘t looking for it, I wouldn't see it.”

He tried to keep his eyes closed after that, relying on his sense of hearing instead. It was early enough in the morning that he could hear birdcall outside the nearby window Haru had left cracked open. He salivated at the thought of the little twittering robins. He‘d never tell anyone, but sometimes catching birds was the only way for him to fill his empty stomach. Unlike Rin, who had Kagura’s parents to take care of her, and Haru, who had a home to return to, Kyo was on his own.

Well. That was why he was here, wasn‘t it? If nobody else would take care of him, he had to seize upon any opportunity when it presented itself. Even if that meant rescuing the damn rat from certain death.

“Someone‘s coming," Rin whispered, sinking into a doorway of her own. “I think it‘s a maid.” 

Excellent. Good timing. Eyes still shut tight, Kyo crouched and perked his ears, following the sound of footsteps. Rin might not have his catlike reflexes, but she was still blessed with animal instinct. When the maid — young; pretty; new — rounded the corner with her arms full of dirty laundry, the two zodiac children made their move.

Rin sprang out in time to collide hard with the young woman's chest, causing her laundry to fall every which way. Kyo seized his chance to barrel into the woman‘s back.

Rin screamed to mask the sound of Kyo‘s transformation, grabbing onto the young woman to keep her balance. Kyo meanwhile found himself standing on four paws in a tangle of his own clothing.

Funny thing about being a cat: colors became so muted. Contrary to popular belief, he _could_ see blues and reds alike, but it was like all the saturation of the world had been dialed way down. However, a feline was a predatory animal. He noticed movement; any movement; as potential prey. It was easy to become distracted by falling socks and panties, but he wouldn‘t let himself bat at and chase them. He was on a mission.

Sparing only a second to grab his precious bracelet, Kyo sprinted on silent paws in the opposite direction, relying on Rin to keep the flustered maid distracted long enough to complete his part of the bargain. He had only to follow his nose — contrary to instinct — _towards_ the smell of sick and rot. Towards the room he himself would one day be confined to like all the cursed Sohma cats before him…

No. No thinking about that. Not now, not ever. Kyo gave a vigorous shake of his head, the bone-beads of his bracelet rattling, and used a paw to pull open the heavy door. Haru had propped it open after breakfast using a small hunk of plastic, virtually unnoticeable unless you stood at roughly nine inches tall like Kyo did. 

He was very careful not to disturb the plastic as he slunk inside the pitch-black, windowless room; if it was knocked aside and the door swung shut, he wouldn‘t be able to get out again until he transformed back to his human form. A naked child was far more conspicuous than a cat.

He swiveled his ears forward. Even with his fantastic night vision, it was hard to make anything out in this insane blackness. A cat‘s eyes worked by taking any available light and magnifying it, but this room seemed to swallow light like the inside of some beast. It was vast; empty; intimidating. It gave Kyo the major creeps.

Well. He had to move fast. He could never predict how long a transformation would last, after all. Creeping forward, he kept his ears pricked until he heard it; heard the tiny muffled gasps for breath.

Oh, man. Oh, yikes. Haru had warned him. Haru had said the damn rat wasn‘t doing good; that he was so sick he was in his rat form all the time nowadays. Haru had said that Yuki would die if they didn‘t bust him out, but Kyo still hadn‘t fully believed him; hadn’t truly understood.

Yuki smelled like death. Yuki smelled like the sort of sickly animal Kyo‘s cat instincts knew better than to eat, lest he become ill himself. Yuki wasn‘t a boy at all anymore; but a scrap of a thing.

A rat was a prey animal. He should be aware of Kyo‘s presence in his room. His little rat heart should be pounding a thousand miles a second. He should be emitting delicious fear-smells to make Kyo‘s mouth water. Instead, he seemed apathetic and unaware; barely conscious as the feline loped towards him and stood over his tiny body.

Kyo nudged at Yuki‘s tummy with his cold nose, but the rat didn't react at all. Kyo set his bracelet down and carefully scooped the rat into his mouth, determined not to bite down. He may not like his cousin, but he wasn‘t a monster. Well, okay, he _was_ , but not _that_ kind of monster.

It was a struggle carrying both his bracelet _and_ Yuki, and he may have drooled a little more than was sightly, but he managed alright. Sneaking out the way he had come (first kicking the plastic doorstopper into the hallway and hoping Rin remembered to take it with her) he padded along the hallway towards the sound of voices.

“Isuzu, why are you here?” the maid spoke as though trying both to be deferential — after all, Rin _was_ a member of the zodiac she served — but also authoritative. All the maids here worked for Akito first and foremost. Akito was very particular who was and was not allowed in his home. Kyo was too much of an outsider to be very involved in family politics, but he knew Rin was hardly a favored guest.

Rin stayed sullen, arms crossed, scowl directed at the floor. When her dark eyes flicked towards Kyo‘s slinking form making his way across the polished wooden floors, however, she changed her tune a little, planting her hands on her hips. “I’m allowed to come here if I want!" she said, drawing the maid‘s attention back to her face. “I’m one of the Jyuunishi!” 

“Lord Akito didn‘t mention a visit from you, though…” the maid knelt and loaded the spilled laundry back into her basket, scooping up Kyo‘s pants and shirt along with everything else. Kyo supposed he‘d probably never see those articles of clothing again. Hopefully the loss would be worth it. “Were you visiting Hatsuharu again?”

The maid’s tone was gentle; understanding. Everyone, even Kyo, knew that Rin and Haru had a bit of a thing, especially after all that crap with Rin's parents went down.

Rin said nothing. She didn't have to. Kyo had already rounded the corner and was hopping onto the windowsill, wriggling his small orange body into the crack Haru had left for him. Rin was known to dislike Yuki, which made her safe to be seen around the cat‘s room. Nobody would think she was involved in Yuki‘s disappearance. Haru, however, was Yuki‘s friend, and so he would be the first suspect. That was why Haru was spending time with Akito right now — plausible deniability. An alibi. He would continue to spend time with their God until after the crime was noticed.

It was the best plan the three children could come up with. Hopefully, it was good enough to work.

Kyo crouched, focused his gaze on the nearby tree; the one where robins still sang; and wriggled his hips. The world’s best Olympian acrobat had nothing on the average housecat when it came to balance, precision, and propulsion. With a powerful kick from his hind paws and his tail held stiff as a counterbalance, Kyo sailed into the tree and landed nimbly atop a branch, startling the robins into flight.

After that, it was nothing to hop down the tree and onto the carefully maintained garden pathway below.

He didn‘t trust his luck enough to think he had much longer in this body, so he crouched low and launched into an all-out sprint. A cat could achieve speeds of thirty miles per hour, though they quickly tired. Thankfully, he didn't have far to go. As beautiful as the Sohma grounds were, the household still generated garbage. His nose led him to the doors just outside the kitchens, and he at last found the garbage can inside which Haru had hidden a shoebox full of clothing.

Kyo gently set Yuki down in a shady patch of dandelions, sat on his haunches, and waited to transform. It did not take long.

His first order of business was to slip his bracelet back on. The second was to dress himself.

“Please no weird clothes, _please_ no weird clothes,” the very naked and very uncomfortable Kyo muttered to himself, pulling the garbage can‘s lid off to dig among the eggshells and teabags from that morning‘s breakfast until he found the promised shoebox. 

Thank the stars, Haru had delivered. He‘d packed jeans, sneakers, a baseball cap, and a plain blue t-shirt into the box. Kyo, well used to his cousin‘s bizarre fashion proclivities, heaved a sigh of relief and quickly scrambled into the clothing. He scooped Yuki into his palm, held the rat against his cheek to feel his heartbeat and ensure he was still alive — he was, but he‘d definitely lost consciousness — and then placed the rat in his hair, only to cover him up with the hat.

The hat was big enough, also, to hide Kyo‘s telltale hair color. As long as he did nothing to draw attention, anybody who glimpsed him on the property would assume he was just another Sohma child, and not The Cat.

That didn't mean he _wanted_ to run into anybody. Kyo closed his eyes and listened hard to his surroundings. He heard people moving in the kitchen on the other side of the wall; more maids. Perhaps chefs, preparing lunch. They had such a small window of time to work. They had to do this after breakfast; had to ensure the maids had brought food to Yuki's rooms and seen him there. They had to move before lunch; before Sohma adults like Hatori returned home from work.

They’d almost pulled it off. They were  _going_ to pull it off, as long as Rin or Haru didn‘t screw up now.

Kyo stuffed his hands into his pockets, hunched his shoulders, and started walking.

He stuck close to the sides of buildings, ducking below windows, taking the long way around rather than following sidewalk paths into open areas. The main house was grand and vast, as were the houses closest to it, but the further Kyo walked, the smaller and more modest they became. Sometimes, when he thought about how enormous his family was, Kyo became a little alarmed. They couldn't all be blood, could they? What did it _mean_ to be a Sohma? He knew their combined wealth and influence was one of the greatest in all of Japan, but…

“Hiya, Kyo!”

The cat who was shaped like a boy flinched and startled, sunset eyes huge as they focused up on a small blond boy, smiling brightly as he leaned out a second-story window from one of the nearby houses. Momiji Sohma; the rabbit of the zodiac.

Just his luck.

“What are you doing here, you little runt?!” Kyo spat, speaking before thinking better of it.

As usual, Momiji wasn't in the least bit bothered by Kyo‘s hostile tone. “I live here now!”

Kyo narrowed his eyes. He wasn‘t often allowed on the property, but he was pretty sure he‘d seen Momiji’s blonde, German mother much further back on the compound. She was a foreigner, and the Sohmas didn‘t take well to outsiders. 

“Since when?”

Momiji briefly lost his sunny smile. “I, ah... I live with Hatori now!”

Did he? _Why?_ How strange…

Kyo reminded himself that he didn't have time to care.

“Whatever," he grouched, and made to walk away again. Momiji let out a whine of protest.

“Don‘t go! Come upstairs! Come play with me! Come see my room!”

Jeez. Didn‘t the kid have anyone better to play with than the family disgrace?

Maybe he didn‘t. To be a Sohma was to live an isolated life. To be Jyuunishi was even more so.

“I don't have time," Kyo said. “I’ve got stuff to do.”

Momiji whined again. Kyo grit his teeth and exhaled hard through his nose. As cute as everyone seemed to think the rabbit was, he really got on Kyo‘s nerves.

“Tell you what," he finally ground out. “I’ll play with you tomorrow, okay? Meet me at the entry gate after breakfast."

He was the cat. He wasn‘t allowed on family property without an invitation and a proper escort. Surely Momiji could understand such a request.

“Really?!” Kyo glanced up in time to see the hopeful sparkle in the rabbit‘s eyes. He looked truly overjoyed at the prospect of a playdate. It was almost enough to make Kyo feel guilty. 

“Yes. But only if you promise to never tell anyone I was here today. Not even Hatori. _Promise_ me, Momiji!”

“I promise! I promise! Cross my heart and hope to die!” Momiji demonstrated by dragging a finger in an X across his scrawny chest.

Kyo could only hope he meant it. If Hatori, arguably the smartest member of the family, heard that Kyo was sneaking around on the same day the rat went missing, well…

“Okay," Kyo agreed with a sharp nod. He didn‘t see that he had any other choice. “I‘d better get going. I’ll see you, okay?” 

Momiji gave him a dramatic salute and bow, then went back inside the house and closed the window after himself. Kyo heaved a sigh of relief and continued walking all the way to the shrub-covered hole in the cement wall; the one the zodiac kids thought they were the only ones to know about; and out into the world beyond. 

It was silly superstition, but it always felt easier to breathe on the other side. Kyo took several deep gulps of breath as he rejoined the natural world and set off at a brisk pace to where he and his cousins had promised to meet.

Things were only just getting started.


	2. Chapter 2

Haru watched as his mother made faces at herself in the bright spotlight of her vanity mirror, tracing her lips with a pencil and filling them in with the matching lipstick. Like most Sohmas, she was very beautiful, and hopelessly vain about it.

“Where’re you going tonight?” he asked. She wore a clingy electric-blue dress he‘d never seen before. Being the mother of a zodiac child had given her quite a lot of money and status in the family. More money meant more dresses and more nights out. Unlike many Jyuunishi parents, she was quite pleased with her son, and would never raise a hand to him. Why should she? He knew to leave her alone and keep his mouth shut, so to hit him would be to beat a literal cash cow. 

Heh. Get it? Moo.

Violent physical abuse had cost Rin‘s parents their meal ticket, so now Kagura’s parents got paid twice as much for watching two zodiac girls. Haru’s mother knew better than to make the same mistake.

“Your father and I have a dinner-date planned with some of his friends from work.” Haru’s mother held up a diamond drop earring to her ear, examined the reflection, then reached for a tear-shaped oryx bauble instead. “This is a great opportunity for his business.”

“Great," Haru fidgeted. He didn‘t care too much about what his parents got up to, but it was good to know. If it was a dinner that required dressing up like  _that,_ there was sure to be wine involved. If there was a lot of wine involved, his parents would almost certainly book a hotel room, and he wouldn't see them again for another day or so. “Try the opals, mom.”

Michiko hesitated, then reached into her vast jewelry box for the round fire-opal studs that sent fractals of color dancing along her fine-boned face. The earrings complimented the hues of her dress perfectly, as Haru had known they would.

“You‘ve got a good eye!" she laughed, unable to tear her gaze away from her reflection. “This is perfect.”

Haru grunted and went back to his bedroom, busying himself with setting things up for his three guests until he heard his front door close and a car engine pull away from the front of his house. He waited a little longer, giving her driver time to leave the compound entirely, before opening his window and leaning out with a flashlight in hand. Dusk was settling, dark enough that the flickering of his morse code would be easily detectable.

_Dot dot dash, dot dot…_

He‘d shown Rin the secret rock by his front door where they kept a spare key; almost entirely unnecessary, as they lived within very private, secured property already. He could probably sleep with every door and window wide open and fear no trouble, aside from the rain and maybe a stray cat or two.

He heard her now, unlocking the door and timidly letting herself inside. His heart urged he run for the stairs; sprint to her side, all for the simple joy of seeing her face. He couldn‘t help it. He just _liked_ her so much…

But Rin was cautious and easily overwhelmed, and it was always, _always_ best to let her come to him. He ignored his heart and instead kept busy straightening up the futons on the floor. Before long, the older girl was in his doorway. As always, she'd rudely left her shoes on. As always, Haru didn't care.

“Hey," Haru greeted.

In answer, Rin pulled her bag from her shoulder and set it on the floor, unclasping the buckles. From it stepped an orange cat with a bundle of gray fur in his mouth.

Haru laughed aloud. “How‘d you get him back in cat form?”

“You don‘t want to know.” Rin pulled Kyo‘s clothes and shoes out of her bag and set them in the hallway, then re-entered Haru‘s room and sat on the end of his bed, like she did whenever she visited him. Kyo placed Yuki on one of the futons and padded out on four paws. Before long, the sound of his transformation and rustling fabric announced his return to humanity.

Only when Kyo stood, dressed and human, in the doorway, did the day's crazy events fully sink in.

“We did it," Haru realized. “We really did it.” He grinned stupidly at his cousins. Sure, they’d been planning the jailbreak for a while now — first just a conversation between himself and Rin that Kyo had overheard and demanded in on — but _planning_ something and actually  _doing_ it were two different things. It made him feel big; grown up.

“We got him out," Kyo said. “But I don‘t know if we saved him. He‘s in really bad shape.” 

He tried to sound indifferent. He failed utterly. Kyo was always the type to wear his heart on his sleeve.

“You got a point there.” Haru knelt on the futon beside the motionless rat. Sure, Yuki was more conveniently portable in this form, but they were a group of middle school students; not veterinarians. None of them knew how to take care of sickly rats. “Is he breathing?”

“Put your cheek against him," Kyo advised. “That‘s how you can feel his heart.”

Curiosity, more than anything, drove Haru to do just that. Kyo was right; he could feel the rodent‘s tiny heartbeat against his skin. That was good, at least.

“I wish we could ask Hatori for help," Haru mumbled, very carefully scooping his cousin into his palm and moving him to the pillow, bringing a sheet up and covering his tiny body like he would a sleeping person.

Kyo scoffed. “Yeah, _right._ The guy lives in Akito‘s pocket. We can‘t ask Hatori for anything without Akito knowing.”

“Yeah, that‘s why I said ‘I wish we could’ instead of ‘we should.’” Hatori was the Sohma family‘s private doctor, as trained in animal care as he was in human care. He took care of all of them, even Kyo. 

“Well, if wishes were horses…”

Rin shot Kyo a dirty look. He didn't notice.

There didn't seem to be anything to do but wait. At least Yuki was still breathing. He wasn‘t even choking or gasping, the way he did while having an asthma attack. He was breathing, and his heart was beating. Maybe he just needed a little bit of time to recharge.

… And maybe by denying him a doctor‘s attention, they were killing him.

But Haru knew his cousin. He‘d seen the terror and hopelessness in his huge gray eyes before he’d stopped turning back human. He knew, just _knew,_ that Yuki would rather die free, among friends, than heal trapped in the Sohma‘s clutches. He owed the boy that much, at least.

“Okay," Haru sat back on his heels and looked up at his two older cousins. “What now?” 

They both looked back at him, Rin‘s dark eyes unreadable, Kyo’s orange glare defensive as always. They were as much at a loss as he was.

Rin‘s stomach growled, and Haru smiled. He knew how to fix that, at least.

“Wanna order takeout?”

...

Haru had sort of hung out with Kyo before, if taking karate lessons at the same dojo counted as “hanging out.” He didn't have the same aversion to the cat as the rest of the Sohmas did.

Well, all things considered, _most_ of the young Sohmas didn‘t have too big of a beef with Kyo just for being the cat. Yeah, his role in the family was unavoidable history. His fate was tradition. And Haru would be lying if he said it was never a relief to look down upon someone else; to see someone who had an even worse lot in life than he did, and feel better about himself for it.

The Sohmas could stand what they were because they always had someone else to pour all their self-hatred into, and that someone was Kyo.

So, yeah. Hanging out with him now was kinda weird, for all of them.

He sat in the corner of Haru‘s bedroom, his back to the wall, and horked down an entire takeout carton‘s worth of food all by himself in a manner of seconds, as though he was afraid they were going to try and take it away from him. He kept a steady glare on his face, watching his two conscious cousins with wary eyes. His posture was stiff, as though prepared at any moment to leap to his feet and run for the door.

That was fine. Rin had been very similar when Haru started hanging out with her. Her parents had beat her into unconsciousness several times over, so it was no small wonder she had trust issues like nobody's business. 

Haru knew things hadn’t been easy for Kyo, either. Everyone in the family knew his mom had killed herself. Haru didn‘t know anything about Kyo‘s dad, but he knew that Kyo didn't like to go home, so. Probably not great there, either.

Rin stared at Kyo, and he stared right back at her. Haru, calm as ever, felt like a scientist observing two rare species coming into contact.

Still, even he could only tolerate so much tense silence.

“You guys mind if I watch TV?" he asked, already reaching for the remote in the basket by his bed. They both jumped at the sound of his voice. He pretended not to notice as he aimed the tool at the blocky television on his desk. It, like most of his nicer possessions, had been consolation gifts from his mom. _“Sorry I missed your birthday/karate final/visit to the hospital. Have an expensive gift.”_ He wasn‘t above accepting bribed love.

Kyo let out a derisive snort when Haru immediately flicked over to the cartoon channel and settled back with his noodles. Haru didn‘t mind. Kyo probably thought he was childish, but what did Haru care? He could be childish. He _was_ a kid, after all.

Rin, who was used to Haru, ate in silence. He was just glad that she was eating at all. Sometimes she was weird about food. That she was willing to eat in front of Kyo was a good sign.

She pointed her chopsticks at Yuki’s motionless body. “What if he gets thirsty?” she asked.

Yuki hadn‘t shown any sign of waking, but it wasn‘t impossible. Haru used the empty plastic lid that had covered their dumpling order and poured water from a bottle into it, setting it close to Yuki’s head, but not so close that he might accidentally roll into it. He wished there was more he could do for the boy, who looked so small and lost on the giant landscape of the guest futon.

“Are you going to school tomorrow?" Rin asked him.

“I was gonna ditch.”

“But you ditched today.”

Haru shrugged. So what? Among the many, many things the Sohmas held great financial influence over were a handful of local schools. He could ditch every single day if he wanted to, and he‘d still graduate with honors. 

Rin looked as though she wanted to scold him. He almost wished she would, but she let it drop. She‘d used to care at school a lot before her home life had shattered. After that, the struggle to just stay alive had put school far, far on the back burner.

“I’m going," Kyo said unexpectedly, which drew both of their attention. He shrugged and popped a water chestnut into his mouth, chewing loudly.

Huh. He hadn‘t struck Haru as the scholarly type, but then, what did he know about Kyo, really? He was good at karate. Maybe he was good at other things, too.

Kyo swallowed. “Before that, I have to hang out with Momiji." he grimaced, as though this was something he really didn‘t want to do.

Well, this was interesting enough that Haru pushed the mute button on the remote control. The noisy cartoon sound effects fell silent. “This sounds like a story I wanna hear.”

...

If eating and hanging out with Kyo was weird, it was nothing on actually getting into pajamas and preparing to sleep beside him.

 Rin took the bed, of course. She always took the bed. She didn‘t even ask for it, which Haru kind of loved about her.

He kind of loved a lot of things about her.

She stepped into Haru‘s closet to change into some pajamas she‘d left behind the last time she‘d visited — she spent so much time at his house that Kagura’s parents no longer called to ask where she was — then emerged and turned to Kyo.

“I’ll take first watch," she said, and he nodded, as though her words made any sort of sense at all.

“What?" Haru asked, feeling stupid.

“First watch," Rin explained. “If anyone comes in, Kyo and Yuki are going to need to hide.” 

Right. Kyo couldn‘t be here because he was the cat. Yuki couldn‘t be here because he was Akito’s stolen toy. Nobody would be surprised that Rin was here, even though she wasn't supposed to be.

“I’ll take second watch?" Haru offered.

“No,” Rin and Kyo replied in unison. They glanced at each other.

“You‘re so dopey you‘d probably just fall back asleep," Kyo explained. He‘d never been one to mince words.

Haru pouted, but his cousin had a point. He stepped into the bathroom across the hall and listened to Kyo and Rin negotiating hours. She would cover the first three before waking Kyo up, and he would return the favor. It sounded exhausting, but Haru trusted them to manage it.

When he returned to his room, Kyo had moved the futon Yuki slept on towards the window, which he cracked open. 

“For a quick escape," he explained, losing his jeans and tucking them on top of his shoes before climbing into the futon with his face next to the rat on the pillow. He was so calm and casual about this that Haru had to wonder whether Kyo had suffered the same way Rin had. In some ways, the two of them acted like small soldiers.

Also similar to a soldier was the way he fell asleep within seconds, or at least pretended to. He lay on his back, one arm over his eyes, and breathed deeply, if silently.

In his bed, Rin flicked the lamp on and rolled onto her side, paging through a manga she‘d borrowed off of Haru‘s shelf. Sometimes she brought magazines or books or even homework, but her bag had been too full that day to pack anything.

Rin was older than Haru. Two whole _years_ older. For kids as young as they were, that might as well have been a million. Haru knew she was big and tough and way out of his league, but he also knew that he liked her, and she was one of the few friends he'd ever had. He dragged the second futon close to the bed and lay down, looking up at her.

It took forever, but finally she turned her head and looked down at him, some of her endlessly long black hair falling over the edge of the mattress. “What is it?”

Haru shrugged. “I’m glad you‘re here," was all he said. “I’m glad I don't have to be alone.”


	3. Chapter 3

Kyo was on his second sleep of the night — he‘d have to get up for school in an hour or so, but that was okay; Rin and Haru had already decided to ditch, so they could sleep all day if they wanted.

He wasn‘t used to being close to other people — physically, because of his curse, and emotionally, because of the bad childhood he was currently having — and it was strange, hearing the sounds of three other nearby beings. Haru’s steady breathing. The pages of Rin‘s manga turning. Yuki‘s tiny _tick-tick-tick_ heartbeat on his pillow.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have come within ten feet of Yuki Sohma. The prissy little rat who was treated like a prince while Kyo was treated like garbage. The one everyone loved, while Kyo was secluded from the rest of the world. Kyo knew it was his own fault his mother had killed himself — after all, his father and everyone else told him so. If he’d been someone like Yuki, his mom would have loved him enough to stay alive.

But…

But.

But, Akito had locked Yuki up in the same room Kyo would one day be locked in. But, Yuki was dying. But, Yuki had been all alone in the dark, the way no beloved rat prince ever should have been.

Kyo didn‘t know what to think about that. It made his head feel funny. He supposed he‘d have to think about that more carefully when — if — Yuki ever woke up.

And maybe he wouldn‘t have to wait for that as long as he thought. Underneath Kyo‘s cheek, the fabric of his pillow scrunched.

Kyo opened his eyes. Right before his nose, he saw the little rat’s back bend; saw tiny claws grasp a crease of cotton. 

“Yuki?” Kyo whispered.

In Haru’s bed, Rin sat bolt upright.

The rat let out a small raspy sound, its eyes still squeezed shut.

Rin, her hair uncharacteristically frizzy from sleeping, locked eyes with Kyo. “Water," she mouthed silently.

Kyo reached for the lid Haru had poured water into, scooting it onto the pillow until the plastic rim touched the rat’s twitching nose. After a pause, a little pink tongue shot out to taste the puddle of liquid. 

Yuki sipped on and off for a minute or two. Somewhere in the middle of it all, he fell back to sleep. Kyo waited another minute to make sure he didn‘t want any more before putting the lid back on the floor and laying back down.

That had to be a good sign, right?

Kyo reclined back onto the guest futon and closed his eyes, drifting off the question: what was changing between him and the boy he‘d once considered to be an enemy?  

...

Kyo debated whether to bring Yuki with him; to hide him underneath the baseball cap Haru had given him; but ultimately decided the rat would be better off resting, even at the slight risk of getting caught.

He dressed quickly in the middle school uniform he‘d hidden under Haru‘s bed, and was about to leave before thinking better of it.

“Rin," he muttered from the doorway, and her eyes snapped open instantly. Though he felt guilty for disturbing her sleep, he‘d known better than to touch her. Even in human form, her kicks were lethal. “I’m going now.”

She nodded. Muddy as his feelings towards his family were, he felt a kinship with Rin. They were cut from the same cloth; a cloth that said, _“trust no-one, and you won‘t get hurt.”_ Ironically, what he felt towards her was the closest thing to trust he was capable of. If he couldn't be there to keep an eye on things, at least it was Rin acting as backup.

He adjusted his backpack, stepped over Haru's sprawled and snoring body, and let himself out, hat pulled low over his head to hide his hair as he dashed across the compound and through the secret hole in the gate, just in time for Momiji to come bopping out too.

The two cousins eyed each other, and Momiji's face broke out in an enormous, sunny smile.

"You came! I thought you wouldn't."

"I said I would, didn't I?"

Momiji nodded, the bunny ears of his headband flopping with the movement of his head. Momiji had always seemed more comfortable with his curse than the other Sohmas. While they tolerated and bore what they were as best they could, Momiji seemed to genuinely delight in being possessed by a rabbit spirit.

He turned and rustled through his backpack, unearthing a plain, clear bento box. "I packed you some breakfast leftovers, in case you hadn't eaten."

Kyo blinked in surprise. Usually he skipped breakfast and just stole some of whatever they were serving at school for lunch, or transformed and gorged himself on rodents or even bugs. Protein was protein, and Kyo had a fighting spirit; a stubborn drive to stay alive when everyone else wished he wouldn't.

"Thanks," he said, the word unfamiliar on his tongue. Momiji practically sparkled, he was smiling so hard.

"Let's go to the park! You can eat there, like a picnic!"

His ever-present good cheer was still grating, but Kyo supposed a promise was a promise. He allowed the smaller boy to grab his wrist and followed him on a three-block walk to a small greenspace; not so much a park as a small field half-hidden by trees. From far off, they could hear the rattle and ding of commuter trains, but in here, things were relatively peaceful.

There was a low stone wall that, as far as Kyo could tell, did nothing but divide the space. He and Momiji sat on it, and Kyo peeked inside the box Momiji had packed.

The Sohmas were as traditional in their cooking as they were everything else they did. There was a screw-top pot of miso; another of stinky natto; a portion of grilled fish, and another of rice. The centerpiece was a boiled egg that had been beautifully cut to look like a flower and sat in a small bed of vegetables. Momiji had also packed him a thermos of milk.

Kyo ate and drank it all quickly, feeling a little self conscious as Momiji watched him eat, and then used a wet napkin to clean the containers and utensils as best he could before handing them back to Momiji. The rabbit tucked them into his backpack to take home later.

Aside from the headband, Momiji was wearing the uniform of the same all-boys middle school that Haru attended. "You going to school today?"

"Yup! Ha'ri is gonna pick me up in his car in a little while."

Ha'ri. Hatori. Kyo gave a grunt of acknowledgement and swung his legs, his scuffed shoes scraping the wall. Though he was only one year older than the rabbit, he acted and looked like such a bubbly little kid it was easy to forget it.

"Hey..." Kyo wasn't sure how to word his question. He'd never seen Momiji act sad before, but he didn't think he wanted to start now. "How come you live with Hatori now, anyway? What happened to your parents?"

Momiji's little shoulders went stiff, and his smile froze on his face. So something bad _had_ happened, then.

"Oh, it doesn't matter." Momiji gave another shake of his head, his springy blond curls flapping, and in a second was smiling as brightly as ever. "Living with Ha'ri is so much _fun!_ He's never home, so I get to practice my violin whenever I want, and I can eat whatever I like! Maids bring me my meals, but nobody tells me not to eat junk food. And there's no bedtime, and he buys me whatever I want, and..."

In a single, acrobatic leap, the child lept off the wall, did a flip, and tumbled to the grassy hill below. He somehow shook off his backpack as he did so. It flew off in the opposite direction and landed in some bushes.

In a movement almost too fast for Kyo's eyes to follow, the boy bounded over to him, grabbed his leg, and gave it a tug. _"Catch_ me!"

Kyo raised an incredulous eyebrow. "I'm not gonna _catch—"_

Momiji stuck his tongue out and blew a noisy raspberry in Kyo's face. "Too bad, so sad! Poor Kyo's a slowpoke! Kyo can't catch a little bunny rabbit!"

"Hey!" Kyo rankled at the taunt, raising his lip to show his fangs. "Watch your mouth, you little—"

With a shrill giggle, Momiji was off again, his skinny legs dashing at a blur all over the grassy field. Kyo growled and gave chase.

Momiji never stopped giggling, even as Kyo almost forgot that he was a boy and ran on all fours. (Momiji did the same a second later.) Not when Kyo pounced on him and rolled them both down the hill, grass filling their hair and clothes. Not when their shapes blurred; when Kyo's pupils went slitted, when Momiji's hair lost its firmness and took on the dense fluff of fur.

Kyo realized, as Momiji squirmed out from underneath him and hopped away, that he was smiling. This reminded him a little of when he and Kagura used to play together; back when it was easy to forget that something was wrong with them and just be kids; happy, cursed children.

"Kyo! Kyo, catch me again!"

Kyo did, and both boys laughed. For a moment, a good moment, Kyo forgot how much he hated himself.

The honking of a car's horn startled them both. Momiji squirmed out from underneath Kyo, half-sitting up, and looked further up the hill, beyond the stone wall. A charcoal-gray car waited for them.

"Hatori?" Kyo asked. His teeth didn't feel as sharp in his mouth as they had a second ago.

"Uh-huh." Momiji sounded a little bummed out. "Guess it's time to go."

The boys stood and dusted as much grass off themselves as they could. Kyo trudged further up the hill to pick up his hat and Momiji's headband, while Momiji went to find their backpacks. By the time they reached the car, Hatori had already climbed out.

Maybe Kyo was still more cat than boy at the moment, because he felt as if he'd pinned his ears flat on his head and his tail was down, twitching uncertainly. Hatori was tall, and cold, and quiet, and he seemed to stare right through people with those glass-green eyes of his.

"Hello, Kyo," the family doctor greeted.

Feigning bravado, Kyo jerked his chin in acknowledgement. "Hey."

Grass under the collar of his shirt felt itchy, but he didn't dare scratch. Hatori probably thought they were being dumb and childish.

"It's funny that Momiji told me to meet him here," Hatori said, and Kyo cocked his head. "Shigure used to enjoy this field in the same way."

"Huh..." Kyo tried to imagine an ink-black puppy chasing his friends around like he and Momiji had just done.

The doctor reached for Momiji before the rabbit could climb into his car, picking individual bits of grass from the boy's hair. "Do you want a ride to school too, Kyo?"

"Oh! Um..." Kyo stopped to think. It didn't sound like a good idea. He tried not to spend much time with the adult Sohmas anyway, and now that he had as big of a secret as a stolen Yuki to hide, he didn't trust himself. He'd never been a good liar.

On the other hand, would saying no look suspicious?

"You're probably busy," he tried hopefully, but Hatori shot that down.

"I'm not. Come on."

Well. It was hard to argue with such flat stoicism.

Kyo and Momiji climbed into the clean back of the car, and Hatori started the engine up.

Sometimes, _sometimes,_ Momiji's bubbly chatterbox nature was a blessing. He talked their ears off all the way to school, changing the subject so rapidly and unpredictably that Kyo's head felt dizzy. He covered a range of topics from anime to cute girls at school to what he was having for lunch that day. He didn't seem at all bothered that Hatori and Kyo didn't react at all.

When they reached Momiji's school — a small, tidy-looking series of buildings where wealthy-looking boys milled, waiting for class to start — the rabbit glanced at his reflection in the mirror and adjusted his headband, then hopped from the car, waving goodbye to them and diving gleefully into the crowd.

Despite the odd way he was dressed, people smiled at Momiji, and not in a mean way. They pulled him into their conversations, and he seemed to be both comfortable and popular.

Kyo and Hatori, never used to or comfortable being the center of attention, watched him with bemused expressions on their faces.

Then Hatori turned and regarded Kyo over his shoulder. "I will need instructions to your school. Come sit up here." He patted the passengers' seat.

"Um." Kyo swallowed, fighting a pang of nervousness. He didn't ride in cars often, and had never sat in the front before. "Okay."  
He put a hand on the back of each headrest and swung his legs over the divide, landing neatly in the seat, before he realized that Hatori probably meant for him to get out and walk around to the door like a normal person. His face reddened, but Hatori said nothing.

He waited for other cars, also dropping their kids off, to move, and then returned to the main road.

"You're gonna want to get in the next lane," Kyo muttered. Maybe it was the cat in him, but he had a solid sense of direction. "Gotta turn left."

Hatori was a careful driver, never exceeding the speed limit and always using his turn signal. Even after he lit a cigarette and blew smoke out the open window like the dragon he was, Kyo never feared they'd get into an accident.

However, Kyo found a moment later that he should have been fearing something else.

"Yuki is missing," Hatori informed him casually, and took another drag of his cigarette.

If Kyo had had a tail at that exact moment, it would have puffed up to twice its size. "What?!" he squeaked, not knowing what else to say.

Hatori exhaled. "Yes. He disappeared sometime yesterday, mid-morning. It's odd, because he's been terribly sick lately. I can't imagine how he would have had the strength to just run off."

Kyo gripped the sides of his seat so he wouldn't fidget too much. His palms, neck, and the backs of his knees were suddenly sweating so much he probably stank, and his face burned hot as a volcano. He looked guilty as sin, and he knew it. "That's weird."

"Isn't it? Akito is furious. He's having us turn the place upside-down looking for him. Soon he'll have us hunt outside the main house, likely starting with the homes of all the Jyuunishi first."

Oh, _no._ Was Haru's house going to be targeted?! How soon would they have to find a new hiding place?

Kyo knew staying silent wasn't the right thing to do, but could think of nothing to say, nothing to ask, that wouldn't give him away. He stared at his lap and swallowed hard, chewing on his lip.

"Hand me my ashtray, would you?" As always, Hatori seemed calm and unruffled; as smooth as the cool bottom of a lake. Kyo held up the small metal dish for Hatori to ash his cigarette into. "I just hope wherever Yuki is, he's properly taking care of himself. When he has bronchial attacks while in his rat body, it's very dangerous for him."

Damn. Kyo had forgotten how messed up Yuki's lungs were. "Really? What do you do if that happens?"

"I lay him flat on his back, his limbs spread out, to open his chest. I keep his head tipped back to open his airways. Rat bones are fragile, so I must be gentle when I touch him. On two occasions, he's stopped breathing."

Kyo swore he felt his _own_ heart stop. "And what did you do _then?"_

"I was improvising, but so far it's worked for me. I covered his nose with a finger and used tubing to breathe directly into his mouth until he breathed on his own again. That's only in the case of an absolute emergency, though."

Was it possible for all the blood to drain out of one's body? Kyo felt positively ghostly. "Oh," he replied faintly.

"It helps to keep him warm. I lay him out on a hot water bottle covered with a towel when I'm trying to coax him back into his human body."

"Keep him warm..." Kyo hadn't even thought to use a hot water bottle, but he remembered long ago being a tiny, sick kitten in Hatori's hand, being laid on a warm bottle himself. It _had_ made him feel better...

He glanced up and saw Hatori's eyes on him in the rearview mirror. They locked gazes for a long, dreadful moment.

_He knows,_ Kyo realized with a sinking heart. _I'm so busted..._

But then Hatori was focusing back on the road, and soon they pulled in front of Kyo's school. It too was an all-boy's school, but unlike Momiji's it was ramshackle, falling apart, and covered in graffiti.  
Unable to believe his luck, Kyo reached for his backpack and opened the door.

"Have a nice day, Kyo," Hatori said, and though he still didn't smile, his eyes seemed a bit warmer than before.

"Thanks," Kyo replied, dazed. "You too."


	4. Chapter 4

Rin liked being at Haru's house.

It was smaller than Kagura's house, but it was also quieter. Usually it was just the two of them home, rather than Kagura and her sewing machine and her endless chattering, and Kagura's parents always so nice and friendly and loud...

_"Where are you going, Rin? Why don't I come with you? We can bring a picnic! It will be so fun!" "What a pretty dress, Rin! Why don't you let me fix your hair?"_

They were nice to her. They were really, really nice. Which only made Rin feel even more guilty that she needed to run away all the time.

Nice people made her feel like she was suffocating. She didn't deserve nice people in her life. She deserved nothing.

 ... Haru was a nice person, but it was a more palatable kind of nice. Haru didn't mind being quiet. Haru was okay with not talking. He didn't follow her around all the time; didn't attack her with cheery questions. He never touched her without asking, and he didn't mind that she was always going through his stuff, stealing his clothes for herself, tethering herself to the world in his talismans.

Rin was walking anger, but Haru acted like her own personal tranquilizer. As long as her friend — her _only_ friend — was around, the urge to scream and scream and never stop was set aside for a little while.

Haru was downstairs making something in the kitchen. Food usually made Rin's stomach twist and churn uncomfortably, but when he was around, she could eat. Just like how sleep always came easiest when she was safe in his bed.

Nobody threw plates at her in Haru's kitchen. Nobody dragged her out of Haru's bed by her hair and slammed her head into walls.

Haru had recently gotten into jewelry making — that was another funny thing about the boy; he just _did_ stuff and didn't care what anybody thought. When people made fun of him for dressing weird or styling his hair or chasing his interests, he just blinked at him with those blank gray eyes. Haru didn't give a shit.

Haru _was_ the shit.

Anyway.  Jewelry. Rin was poking through his many boxes of glass beads and cases of weird metal tools and bags of thin wires and clasps. Most of what he'd made so far kind of sucked, but Rin knew he'd get good at it, eventually. He just took a long time to figure stuff out, but he had enough patience that it didn't matter.

If Rin had sucked as much at karate as he did when he'd first started, she would have gotten embarrassed, then mad, and probably would have quit on the first day.

Haru hadn't quit. He wasn't as good at the practice as Kyo or Yuki were, but he wasn't half bad, either.

Spying a bead she liked in one box — black and glossy and round like a marble with swirls of silver inside — she popped it out and stuck it in her sock. Sometimes it felt like the more things of Haru's she kept with her, the safer she was.

A rustling noise behind her had Rin spinning around, eyes narrowed, teeth bared, both fists clenched defensively for whatever attack was coming.

But there was no attack. Rin was alone in the familiar untidy room — looking strange from how Haru had scooted all his eclectic junk around to make room for the extra futon.

Alone, save for the rat.

Yuki twitched again in his sleep, the pillow rustling under him, and Rin set down the box she was still holding.

She walked towards Yuki and dropped into a crouch, watching him intently. Rin didn't like her younger cousin — she didn't really like anyone — but he wasn't the worst. And she didn't want him to die.

She knew all too well what it was like to have her life messed up by the adults of her family. Nobody deserved to die because of the crap those guys were always pulling.

And anyway, if Yuki died, Haru would be upset. Really upset. He might even become Black Haru, which didn't really bother Rin; Black Haru was just White Haru with the volume and energy turned up. But it upset everyone around them when he broke shit and yelled.

Well, Rin also sometimes needed to break shit and yell. And at least it was never _her_ that Haru broke or yelled at.

Yuki made a soft little noise in his throat. He sounded scared.

Without thinking better of it — and really, now she was just being dumb. Just because something was sick or hurt didn't mean it couldn't hurt back — Rin cupped her hand around Yuki's rat body. She didn't pick him up; she just supported him.

And maybe that's what caused him to bend backwards, almost in half, before transforming with a gunshot of sound.

Rin found herself with an armful of boy, pale as a sheet and lightly coated in sweat. Yuki wheezed for breath.

 _"Fuck,"_ Rin said aloud, because cursing usually made her feel better. Over her shoulder she called, "Haru!"

Yuki's hand clamped weakly on her arm, and Rin resisted the urge to snarl and throw him off. She hated people touching her, but based on the dazed look in Yuki's wide gray eyes, he wasn't doing it on purpose. He was totally out of it.

Haru took the stairs two at a time, knowing Rin wouldn't have called for him if it wasn't important. His socked feet slid on the wooden floor and he grabbed the frame of the doorway to keep from sliding right on past. Then he just stared into the room.

"Oh," he said, sounding pleased. "Cool."

Rin felt a hundred, no, a _thousand_ times better when Haru came in and pulled Yuki off her lap, moving him back onto the futon and stroking that floppy gray hair out of his eyes.

"Hey, dude," Haru said, smiling down at the boy who was no longer a rat. "We were worried about you."

Oh, yeah. Rin suddenly remembered why she didn't much like Yuki. Stupid as it was, she got jealous whenever Haru liked people who weren't her.

She snorted and gave her head a shake, wishing for something to tie her hair up with. Without a word, Haru handed her a pencil.

That was Haru, though. He always knew just what she needed.

While Haru made sure Yuki was comfortable, Rin twisted her hair up and stabbed the pointy end of the pencil through it, securing it into a bun. Then she stood and turned to Haru's closet, hoping for a big t-shirt.

Nudity didn't bother her, especially not her own or another member of the zodiac. Nudity sort of came with their curse, and all the animals spent a good majority of the first day of new years celebrating and feasting naked anyway, due to yet another weird family tradition.

You know. Because they weren't all messed up in the head _enough._ Had to add in that extra little spice of crazy.

So it was warmth Rin had in mind for her cousin, not modesty. Yuki didn't care about that stuff, and neither did she or Haru.

It was pointless anyway. She'd only just reached the closet door when she heard that same gunshot bang, and Haru's groan of dismay.

"Did he transform back already?" she asked, although she already knew he had.

Haru sighed. "I'm choosing to take this as a good sign," he said, looking down once again at the rodent on the futon.

There was no need to say what they were both thinking.  
When Rin had first been rescued from her parents, she'd spent a good few days in Hatori's office transforming back and forth to rapid exhaustion, unable to maintain one form or another.

Haru knew as well as Rin did that sometimes sickness was of more than just body, and sometimes humanity was a shape that needed to be remembered. That sometimes it had to be a choice; a realization that it was safe to put away the  safe, protective shell of the animal's spirit and live as one's true self again.


	5. Chapter 5

Haru knew that Yuki couldn't stay at his place for much longer, especially not after Kyo passed on Hatori's warning that soon the family would search the Jyuunishi's homes for the rat.

And it wasn't like they could just hide him in a shoebox in Haru's closet, either. Haru's parents might be uninterested and uninvolved in his life, but surely they'd eventually notice if his cousin kept transforming back and forth in his bedroom. Yuki had become human twice since Kyo returned from school a few hours ago.

"Hey, you damn rat," Kyo grumbled when Yuki curled up, naked and shivering, on the corner of the futon. "You think you can stand up?"

Yuki shook harder. Maybe, in his brain, he was still a rat. He almost looked like one, watching the world fearfully with twitchy gray eyes. When Kyo reached for him, he flinched back.

"You try, Rin," Haru suggested. He'd heard somewhere that people who were really scared responded better to girls.

Rin made a face, but made the effort. She gathered up the t-shirt they'd left on Haru's desk. It belonged to Haru's father. They'd stolen it from his closet with the idea that a soft, too-big shirt would be more comfortable than Haru's things.

She bunched it up in her hands and knelt in front of Yuki. Looking him in the eye, she slowly pulled the shirt over his head.

He allowed it, but when she reached for his hand to push it through the arm-hole, he balked.

"No," he said, the first word any of them had heard him say since his arrival. "No, no..."

Rin hated to be touched. She knew what "no" felt like. Putting her hands up in understanding, she backed away to give Yuki his space. He just sat with his knees to his chest, now cocooned in a tent of fabric. After a moment, he rocked in place, eyes staring at nothing.

Kyo, sitting on Haru's bed, nudged Haru in the spine with his bare toes. "You try it," he snapped. _"You're_ his friend."

Huh. There was an idea.

Walking slowly, Haru approached his friend and knelt down in the same way Rin had, facing the boy. He and Yuki hadn't gotten along at first because of a dumb misunderstanding, but now Haru loved him very much, and wasn't shy to tell him.

"Yuki?" he asked, and Yuki's eyes flicked, however briefly, to his face.

Taking that as a good sign, Haru cleared his throat and continued.

"We're here to help you, okay? The stuff everyone was doing to you wasn't cool, so we took you away. We're trying to be good to you so. Try to trust us, okay?"

Yuki said nothing, but he stopped rocking. Haru cautiously touched his hand. Yuki allowed it.

"Just gonna get you dressed, okay dude?" Haru asked. "Clothes are good. They remind us we're human. Here, let's get the left sleeve on. Good job, just like that. Stretch your arm out like in warm-ups before karate."

Piece by little piece, and talking his ear off the whole time, Haru got Yuki dressed.

"See if you can get him to the bathroom," Rin suggested. That was a good idea. Yuki had had sips of water since the night before.

Haru stood and took both of Yuki's hands. "Think you can walk a few steps?" He smiled. "Just a few, I promise. It'll be easy. Won't let you fall. Jeez, you got taller, didn't you? You just wanna be bigger than me, huh?"

He got Yuki up to his feet. The t-shirt hung well below his knees. "Rin's gonna walk behind you, okay?" he said, nodding his head, and Rin got up to do just that. "Just in case you lose your balance. You've been sick for a long time, so you probably don't feel too sturdy."

Like a weird conga line, the three of them shuffled one step at a time to the bathroom across the hallway. It was Haru's private bathroom. Guests used the one downstairs, and his parents had their own. The Sohma maids who visited every week kept it clean.

There was a divider screen between the toilet and the sink. Once Haru was sure Yuki would not fall over, he busied himself filling a glass of water at the sink. He found a comb, too, and a washcloth.

Yuki flushed the toilet and walked back to the sink all on his own, washing his hands on autopilot. Haru tugged on his shoulders until he ducked his head, and Haru set to work combing out his lank, sweat-dampened hair. Rin dampened the cloth and handed it to Haru, who handed it to Yuki.

"Sometimes washing my face makes me feel better," Haru said with a smile, and was pleased when Yuki did just that, dabbing at his eyes and mouth. "See? You're doing great, dude. You want some socks? Your feet are probably cold..."

"Haru," Yuki said, his voice hoarse and scratchy. Haru's heart leapt.

"Yeah? What's up?" He tried to sound casual.

"Haru... I think I'm gonna turn back..."

Haru didn't understand right away, but Rin did. She gently pushed Yuki back into the sink. "Sit," she said, and he did.

A second later, the smoke cleared, and a rat blinked up at them from where it sat on the sink. The t-shirt fell empty to the floor. Haru sighed.

Yuki sighed, too. In a tiny rodent-voice, he said, "I'm so tired." He sounded so despairing that Haru thought his own heart might break.

"I know, dude. I know."

From the doorway, Kyo watched them. He looked as troubled as Haru felt.

"We've got to do something, and soon," he said.


	6. Chapter 6

Yuki slept on Kyo's pillow again that night. He would probably have preferred to sleep on Haru's, but Haru slept like a corpse and wouldn't have woken up if he needed help.

The three functioning members of the zodiac had stayed up late discussing their options before finally packing Kyo's backpack with clothes and food and money, planning to go to the city in the morning and find where Yuki's older brother ran some kind of store. Maybe he would help them.

Kyo felt like he'd only just managed to doze off when a hand shaking his shoulder roused him.

"Get up!" Rin hissed urgently in his ear. "Come on, come on!"

Kyo blinked and rubbed at his eyes. It was still dark outside, but not as dark as it had been when he'd fallen asleep. Morning was coming, but had not yet arrived. "What is it?"

"Trouble."

She left him and went to wake Haru, a much more difficult prospect.

Kyo sat up and tried to figure out what had her so rattled, but quickly heard, from downstairs, a key turning in the lock of the front door.

"Haru's parents?"

"No." She seemed too agitated to tell him more. Huffing his frustration, Kyo stood and crossed the room, pushing the curtains aside to look out the window. Down below, he saw a group of people. There were a few women dressed in the Sohma maid uniforms; a few men Kyo thought were probably drivers; and...

"Is that Kureno?"

The young adult, the bird of the zodiac, was practically a stranger to Kyo. He was even more aloof than Hatori. Kyo recognized his hair, the russet color of fallen Autumn leaves, more than his thin, drawn face.

"Yes. You need to go."

Too late, Kyo remembered Hatori's warning. He'd thought he had more time. Why would Akito be sending people here in the dead of night like this, unless he truly suspected Haru to be hiding something?

Then again, if Kyo were Akito, he would know that Haru was Yuki's closest friend. Of course Yuki would be hiding here; it was so obvious!

Their plan, which had seemed so smart the night before, now seemed unbearably stupid and childish. Why had they thought they could outsmart the adults of the family? They were just kids!

Kureno finished unlocking the door — no doubt Akito had keys to every building on the compound — and it swung open with a creak.

"Hatsuharu?" Kureno called from downstairs. "We apologize for dropping by so late when your parents aren't home, but it's a matter of family business..."

 _"Shit..."_ Kyo hissed. No doubt he'd brought with him the maids who cleaned Haru's house, who would know any secret hiding spaces. And the men... Were they there to act as muscle, in case a fight cropped up? Damn. Akito meant business. "What do we do?" he asked Rin, who had finally managed to wake Haru up.

She growled her annoyance. "Do I have to do everything?!"

Kyo bristled. It was just that she was the oldest, and she seemed to know her shit. She didn't have to act like he was a dumb kid—!

As though to answer her own question, Rin bent and grabbed Kyo's backpack, shoving it into his chest. "Put that on."

He did.

"Hatsuharu?" Kureno's voice was closer now. He was climbing the stairs, and judging by the number of footsteps Kyo heard, the whole group was following close after him. "If you're awake, please say something..."

If Kyo went into the hallway, he'd be caught immediately. The only way out was the window. He went to open it, peeking down to make sure none of the group were still down there. They appeared to have all entered the house.

"Here." Rin tossed Haru's baseball hat at him. He caught it on reflex. "Take Yuki."

"But how—"

"You're a cat! Land on your feet, stupid!"

Kyo didn't want to argue with her when she was looking so fierce. But didn't she want to come with him? If she was caught sleeping in Haru's room, Akito was going to be _really_ mad...

There wasn't time to think about that. Kyo bent down and snatched the sleeping rat off his pillow, dropping it into his hair and pulling the hat down tight over him. He climbed onto the windowsill just as Rin threw Haru's bedroom door open.

"What are you guys doing here?!" she snapped, her voice carrying. She stomped out aggressively like she was raring for a fight.

"Isuzu?" Kureno's surprise was unmistakable. Maybe he was wondering if he'd gone to the wrong house. "What are— hey..."

There was a loud bang and some shouting, and then a horse's shrill whinnying echoed, deafening in a place no horse was meant to be.

"Did she just...?!" Haru breathed, huriedly shoving Kyo's futon under his bed to make it look like he'd had only one guest — Rin — all along. He then flopped into his bed and pulled the blankets up under his chin like he'd been sleeping innocently before Kureno woke him up.

She had. She had deliberately collided with one of the men so she could transform and cause a ruckus while blocking the path to Haru's room. Kyo heard her hooves clattering on the wooden floor, and a series of crashes as her big body knocked things off tables and walls. The maids were all trying to calm her down, talking loudly over one another until nobody could be heard.

Kyo wouldn't get a better chance to escape. Rin had bought him all the time she could.

"Be safe," Haru whispered, and Kyo threw himself out the window, his body naturally centering itself so he landed lightly on the balls of his feet at the front of Haru's house, knees bent to absorb the shock.

With one hand pressed to his hat to keep it from flying off, he broke into a sprint, making a mad dash deeper into the compound. He'd be exhausted and out of breath by the time he reached the secret hole in the gate, and all the twigs and concrete and rocks were murder on his bare feet, but what choice did he have?

Tiny paws grabbed onto strands of his hair, holding tight. Yuki had woken up at last, and didn't like being bounced as Kyo ran. Kyo could only pray he didn't transform before they were free.

He tripped over the exposed root of a cherry tree and nearly went sprawling — so much for catlike reflexes — but righted himself just in time. He didn't know it yet, but a sharp stone had cut the sole of his left foot, and he left a trail of bloody smears in his wake.

There was a stitch in his side and he was breathing so hard it ached by the time he reached the bushes behind Hatori's house and threw himself through, searching blindly until he found the crack in the stone wall and pushed himself through, emerging, panting, on the other side.

"Are we safe?" a voice whispered from his hat.

Kyo couldn't talk. He could barely breathe. He took the hat off instead and held it on his knees, allowing Yuki to peek over the brim at the tangled bushes they were hidden in.  
   
Kyo-the-human had better night vision than most people, but many animals, rats included, had pretty good night vision themselves. Yuki was likely able to see more than Kyo could, looking through the bushes.  
  
"What are we going to do?" he asked finally, turning to look at Kyo. He sounded more alert than he had the day before, which was a good sign. Maybe it was the adrenalinne of the run.

Kyo thought about it, watching the little rat settle in the hat on his knees. They couldn't stay here long. They needed to get up, get moving. But moving where? The trains didn't start until after dawn, so they had a couple hours to go before they could go forward with their plan to go to Ayame's shop. They could walk to the station, but that didn't seem like a great idea right away... In his late-night wanderings, Kyo had seen plenty of people lurking around the train station. He wasn't necessarily scared of homeless people; he was practically homeless himself. And ninety-nine percent of them just wanted to be left alone, anyway. But there was that one percent...

And anyway, Yuki was unstable. Who knew when he'd next become human? That wasn't exactly something he could explain to a casual bystander. They needed to put off going out into the public for as long as possible. Where could they go to wait, that was both nearby and hidden?

"Momiji showed me a little field," Kyo remembered. "It's pretty out of the way. I think we'd be safe there."  
  
He made to stand, then clapped a hand over his mouth as his foot throbbed in pain.   
  
"What is it?!" Yuki exclaimed, and Kyo looked down at his foot, finally seeing the cut, the blood. His other foot wasn't looking much better.  
  
"Oh, no," Kyo muttered.  
  
"Oh, no," Yuki echoed.  
  
Kyo shrugged his backpack off and rummaged for one of the bottled waters he'd packed, opening it and pouring it over his foot, cleaning it as best he could. He dried it off and tied it with a handkerchief before putting socks on, then shoes. He'd only packed one pair of shoes, for Yuki. He'd accidentally left his own shoes in Haru's room. If Yuki tranformed back, they'd have to find him a pair.  
  
Great. Just one more problem on top of an impossible situation. Kyo sighed.  
  
"Do you want to go back in the hat," he asked, gingerly climbing back to his feet. "Or do you think you can stay on my shoulder?"


	7. Chapter 7

All that running must have tuckered Kyo out. Once they got to the field, he sat with his back to a low stone wall, pulled his hat over his eyes, and dozed off.

Yuki didn't dare stray far from Kyo. In a field like this, there could be all sorts of things that would be happy to make a rat their breakfast. Birds, stray cats or dogs, foxes, snakes...

Tentatively, Yuki walked down his cousin's arm, gripping the fabric of his shirt for balance.  
  
He ended up on Kyo's leg, stretched out in front of the boy, and sat in his cupped hand, looking around. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been outside. He'd been locked up in the little black room for so _long..._

He didn't want to think about that. When he remembered the room, remembered scratching the walls, sobbing to be let out, begging that he'd be good, that he'd do anything Akito said if he just _let him out,_ his lungs felt too big to fit in his chest, and he forgot how to breathe.

He looked up at the sky, the stars, the moon. He listened to the wind in the grass. He took deep breaths. He felt Kyo's sleepy warmth. He was safe.

It almost didn't matter that they were two young runaways with nowhere to go. It didn't matter that they weren't even friends, that their few interactions had all been fighting and yelling. Anything was still better than going back.  
  
Yuki realized that he was hungry; an almost alien feeling. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt hungry!  
  
Holding onto one of the beads of Kyo's bracelet, Yuki lowered himself to the ground and scurried to his backpack, unzipping the front pocket and following his nose to a cloth sack full of food. There was fruit and granola and beef jerky and water bottles...

Yuki pulled tin foil off something round and nibbled on a boiled egg until his tummy felt full and tight. He wrapped the rest of the egg back up and made himself comfortable in the pocket, closing his eyes with a sigh.

If he'd had a human face, he would have been smiling.

...

"Yuki? _YUKI!!!_ Yuki, where are you, you damn rat?!"  
  
Yuki woke to the sound of Kyo's frantic shouting; at the sound of the boy looking frantically around in the grass; on top of the stone wall.

"Oh... damn..." Kyo whimpered, his breath hitching. "Oh, shit. Oh no. Yuki!"

He sounded really torn up. Scared, even. Yuki had never heard him sound like _that_ before!

Sticking his little face out from the backpack and noticing how the sun had risen while they slept, Yuki called, "Um... I'm right here. Kyo?"  
  
He thought Kyo might not hear him over his shouting, but there was a pause, and then Kyo dropped to his knees in front of the backpack, reaching inside. He squeaked as the boy grabbed him and held him up to eye-level, as though to make sure it was really him.

"Hi," Yuki said, feeling shy. He wrapped his tail around Kyo's index finger. "Sorry. I fell asleep."  
  
The orange eyes focused on him narrowed in a scowl. "Scare the shit out of me, why don't you! I thought an owl had eaten you. Damn rat."

Yuki had known, on a surface level, that Kyo must care about him a little. He didn't remember being rescued, but Haru had explained what happened. Kyo had stuck around for the past few days, helping out. Yuki remembered waking up several times next to the boy's head on the same pillow, sleeping deeply.

But he hadn't known Kyo cared _this_ much. He almost didn't know what to say.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to," he whispered.

Kyo snorted and set Yuki down on top of the backpack. "We should start walking to the train station," he said, squinting at the sun. "It's about six now. You stay right there; I need to pee."

Yuki made a face as Kyo walked further down the wall, turning his head so he didn't have to watch. He was thirsty, but couldn't open the water bottles by himself.

When Kyo came back, he did it for him, pouring some water into the bottle cap for Yuki to hold and drink out of like a bowl. Kyo swigged out of the bottle himself and then ate bites of fruit and jerky while Yuki took more nibbles of his egg.

"Maybe we can buy some medicine at the store?" he suggested. He knew Haru had given Kyo quite a bit of money. "It'd be really bad to get an infection."

Kyo grunted. "I guess we can. Hat or shoulder?"

Yuki thought about it. He was feeling tired; too tired to stay sitting up and keep his balance. "Hat for now," he decided, and stepped onto Kyo's offered palm.  
  
Kyo lifted him like an elevator and set him on top of his head.  
  
Yuki made himself comfortable in that thick, bright hair, curling up as Kyo pulled the baseball cap over him. It was made of thin canvas, so plenty of sunlight and air came through. Yuki didn't feel claustrophobic or scared; just a little overwarm.

Kyo walked very smoothly and evenly. Maybe that was the cat spirit's influence. Yuki didn't feel jostled at all as Kyo climbed the hill and evened out on the sidewalk, walking at a brisk pace despite the pain in his feet.

Yuki didn't know where they were going yet, but it was enough to feel safe and free; to know someone was taking care of things.

 


	8. Chapter 8

Hatori stepped of his and Momiji's home, intending to stretch his legs by walking to the store for a pack of cigarettes.

He walked behind his house, not wanting to alert the compound that he was leaving by exiting through the front gates. Not when the "secret" entrance (most of the zodiac knew about it) through the hole in the wall was perfectly accessible. Leaving the compound the normal way just led to a million questions. One of the maids would offer to buy the cigarettes for him, as though Hatori shouldn't ever try to leave.

(He shouldn't. None of them should ever _want_ to leave Akito. That was why they had servants and maids and drivers. Why would he ever want to leave this castle, this paradise, his God? He was terrible to even think about it!)

Well. Maybe he _was_ terrible. Sometimes it felt like his curse was suffocating him, one breath at a time, killing him a little more every day.

"Hatori!"

The male voice calling for him had him turning around guiltily, glad he hadn't reached the wall yet. He could still come up with an excuse for leaving his house.

"Kureno," he said in some surprise. The bird of the zodiac kept to himself for the most part. Akito had taken a shine to him, admiring the beautiful little sparrow that could fly so freely, but always chose to return.

The younger man used to tail after Hatori, Shigure, and Ayame, admiring his older cousins, but Shigure had frosted him out the more attention Akito paid to him. Shigure's jealousy was an ugly, vicious thing. He made it clear with every cold look, every silent treatment, that Kureno was not wanted.  
  
Now the man had no friends aside from their God.

Hatori felt a little bad that he'd never stepped in; never told Shigure to knock it off. But that was just who Hatori was. He was quiet, he got his work done, he did what he was told, and he didn't stir the pot.

Maybe he'd always known, deep down, that he was a coward. Imagine! A cowardly dragon!

"How can I help you?" Hatori asked smoothly. He was taller than Kureno — he was taller than most people in the family, and certainly taller than everyone in the Jyuunishi — but not by much. The man had grown some more after graduating high school.

Kureno looked at him with anxious eyes, an odd brown that looked closer to red in direct sunlight. Hatori had been present for the bird's birth, though his father was the one who'd delivered the squalling baby that quickly transformed into a wet bundle of wings. Hatori, only five at the time, had patiently stretched the appendages out, cleaning fluid and blood from between every feather with cotton balls.

The Jyuunishi were born to human parents, yes, but they never truly belonged to them. Jyuunishi belonged only to each other and, especially, to Akito. Outsiders, even outsiders that had given birth to them, were not welcome at their eternal banquet.

"You know about what's happened with Yuki, yes? Lord Akito is distraught!"  
  
Of course Hatori knew. He'd comforted the child-God, administering a sedative when the sobbing became hysteric.

"I know. Has anything changed?"  
  
"No. We searched Hatsuharu's home last night and found nothing. There was an... Altercation with Isuzu, who has apparently been sleeping at Hatsuharu's house. She was... punished."

Hatori winced. The girl had already been abused senseless by her parents. He'd set the broken bones himself. "How hurt is she? Does she need my attention?"

"No. It's only bruises and cuts."

As though that made it any better! If they were any other family, he'd have already called the police for her sake.

Hatori could not call the police. They were a tiny kingdom all their own, and their ruler was a child who reacted with fists and tantrums before logic.

"So Yuki is still missing," Hatori clarified.  
  
He knew who had Yuki. It didn't take a genius to figure out. But nobody else in the family would think about Kyo. Kyo was the cat; a useless object to be looked down upon with scorn. Surely the cat couldn't be intelligent; crafty; daring enough to steal the precious rat!  
  
Hatori knew better.

Hatori knew he should share his knowledge. He'd be punished for keeping it a secret for so long, but he knew he deserved it.

How was it that the younger generation of cursed Sohmas were so consistently brave; so defiant? Momiji, despite how cute and fun-loving he was, was one of the bravest people Hatori knew. And Isuzu, standing up to authority after having been beaten down so many times... It put Hatori to shame. 

So why didn't he say something?

A brown stain on the concrete under Hatori's shoe gave him pause. He moved his foot and frowned down at it, realizing after a moment that it was a footprint. A child's footprint: five toes and part of a heel.

 _Blood,_ Hatori realized, and quickly moved his shoe back over the print to hide it. It, and the other prints behind it, were leading to the hole in the wall.

"He is. Akito is miserable. You need to come to the main house and tend to him."

Hatori nodded. "I understand." He glanced at Kureno's face; saw the shadows under his eyes, the bruise on his cheek. Akito had likely vented some frustrations out by striking him. Again.

"You should get some rest," he suggested. "Doctor's orders."

Kureno looked startled. "You think I should? But Akito—"

 _"I_ will take care of Akito," Hatori interrupted firmly. "Rest, Kureno. I mean it."

Kureno bit his lip uncertainly, but nodded. "Alright. Please tend to Akito as soon as possible."

"I will."

Hatori waited for Kureno to stumble back off towards the main house, walking like a drunken, exhausted zombie, before turning back to his house. He had a garden hose to water the flowers and bushes behind his house, but he never did any of that himself. That was the gardeners' job.

He unrolled the hose from its post on the wall, switched the handle on, and set to washing away the bloody footprints leading to the wall.

It was a quiet rebellion; almost too tiny to matter. It still made Hatori's guilty, cowardly heart race like a stallion in a field.


	9. Chapter 9

It wasn't the _worst_ possible time Yuki could have transformed, but it wasn't great, either.

One minute Kyo was walking down a city block under a pale orange sunrise with the world just starting to wake up. Grocery stores were unlocking their doors. Laundromats were flicking on their "WE'RE OPEN!" signs.

The next minute, Yuki was yanking sharply at his hair.

"Ow!" Kyo winced. "Hey, watch it, rat!"

An older woman with a shopping cart full of empty plastic bags frowned at him. Kyo frowned back.

"I think I'm gonna..." Yuki whispered, and shivered all over.

Hit with sudden understanding, Kyo turned around and sprinted to the nearest store as fast as his aching feet would carry him.

"Jeez, kid!" the shop-owner complained as Kyo shoved past him on his way to the bathroom, locking the door just as Yuki burst from his hat in a cloud of blue smoke.

Kyo groaned, turning his back on the other boy as Yuki fell against the sink. He shrugged his backpack off and held it out behind himself, waiting until Yuki took and unzipped it, pulling the packed clothes out.

"Think you're gonna stay human for a while?" Kyo asked, sounding grumpier than he intended. It would have been easier if Yuki had stayed in rat-form for just a little while longer. They would have only had to pay for one train ticket.

"I don't know," Yuki muttered, holding onto his cousin's shoulder for balance as he stepped into Haru's spare pants. "I'm gonna need shoes, though."

Kyo swore softly under his breath. Yuki wasn't wrong.

"Stay here," Kyo told him. "The store looks empty, so you're probably fine. I'll be right back."  
  
"Can you get me some hair clips, too?" Yuki asked, and Kyo glanced at him. It was true that Yuki's silvery hair had grown long enough to hang irritatingly in front of his eyes. Kyo grunted and let himself out.

They were very fortunate to have run into a supermarket-style grocery, meaning there was a very small clothing section in addition to the food and cleaning supplies.

Kyo followed the signs and arrows up an escalator, noticing as he did that he'd been wrong; there _were_ other shoppers who had come for early-morning sales. He just hoped none of them went into the first-floor men's bathroom and questioned the too-skinny, barefoot pre-teen shivering on the tile floor.

Best to make this quick, then.

Kyo grabbed a generic package of socks and the first pair of comfortable-looking sneakers he saw in his size. The prices made his stomach clench, but it wasn't his money; it was Haru's. He could pretend he was just playing a dumb game with fake money if it made this easier to get through.

On a whim, he grabbed two identical, plain gray hoodies, too, both a size too big. He wasn't sure how far Akito would track them, but two boys with their unusual coloring travelling alone together might stick in someone's memory. Better safe than sorry.

There weren't any hair clips in the men's section, and the ones he found in the girls' were, well... Girly. As funny as it might be to see Yuki in Hello Kitty barrettes, Kyo wasn't in a joking mood. He grabbed the plainest ones he could find and carried his haul to the register, where a bored-looking teenager rang him up.

He about ran down the escalator and back to the bathroom, and was more relieved than he could express to find Yuki still human, alone, and sitting on the sink with his bare feet dangling.

Kyo tossed the hoodie and clips at Yuki and then knelt, tearing the package of socks open with his teeth and grabbing one of Yuki's ankles.

"Um..." Yuki stammered, looking down at him.

"Hury up," Kyo snapped, and pulled Yuki's socks on for him.

A little red in the face, Yuki did, twisting to look in the mirror over his shoulder as he finger-combed his hair and snapped the clips in. He pulled the hoodie over his head without being asked.

Kyo double-knotted Yuki's shoelaces for him and then stood, grabbing Yuki's arm where the price tag dangled, and bit the plastic off, spitting it into the trash can.

"We should go," he said gruffly, shrugging into his own hoodie.

"Wait," Yuki protested. "Your feet..."

"What about them?"

"You said we'd get some medicine for them..."

Kyo shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Lets _go."_

Yuki folded his arms and glared. "No."

Kyo's eyebrows shot up high on his forehead. _"No?"_

"No! You're no good to me if you have to go to the hospital for a tetanus shot, or whatever. Can you imagine me carrying a sick cat to some doctor and trying to explain what's going on?"

"I stepped on a _rock,_ not a rusty nail."

"Do you know that for certain?"

The two boys glowered at each other. In those gray eyes, Kyo saw eons of stubbornness. He growled, baring his fangs, but Yuki didn't back down.

"Fine!" Kyo finally snarled, and pulled Haru's wallet from his pocket, tossing it at Yuki. "You do it. I'll wait outside."

Yuki caught the wallet without fumbling. He raised his chin proudly. "I _will,"_ he said. "And you'd best be waiting for me when I come out."

"Oh, I'd _best_ be, huh?!" Kyo snapped irritably. God, this _guy._ Kyo knew he'd hated him for a reason.

He left the bathroom, storming irritably back outside, and found a nearby bench to sit on, glowering at some nearby pigeons pecking around near the storm drains. It would serve Yuki right if Kyo just got up and left! Let him figure himself out from here on out.

... Kyo couldn't do that. Yuki was still weak, still sick. He could transform back into a rat any minute. He could be stepped on or eaten, or worse: captured. Such a story was sure to make the news...

Damn. Maybe he shouldn't have left Yuki alone. With anxiety thrumming in his veins, Kyo stood and walked back to the store. He was just about to pull the door open when Yuki stepped out, a shopping bag slung over his arm.

"Sit," Yuki told him, and pointed to the bench.

...

The peroxide hurt something fierce, but Kyo would never, ever cry in front of _Yuki Sohma._

He grit his teeth and bit down hard on his lip, forcing his noises of pain to silence.

Yuki sat with Kyo's foot in his lap, a pair of disinfected tweezers in hand, and plucked the last of the gravel from Kyo's heel.

"Almost done," he promised, his voice soft. "It's okay."

Kyo tried to respond, but the best he could manage was a strained, _"Hrmmmm."_

Yuki took a length of gauze and, holding a cotton pad to the injury, tightly wrapped Kyo's foot with the cotton trapped inside.

"Socks," he commanded.

Kyo reached for the dirty, bloody socks he'd been wearing, but Yuki snatched them away, tossing them both into a nearby trash can.

"Hey!" Kyo protested.

"Clean ones," Yuki retorted, and pushed the open pack Kyo had just purchased back at him. Kyo growled and grumbled the whole time he dressed himself.

"You're a real pain in my ass, Rat," Kyo snapped, and was irritated all the more when Yuki smiled thinly.

Yuki bunched up their shopping bags and shoved them into Kyo's backpack. Kyo cocked his head.

"What else did you buy?" he asked.

"Lunch," Yuki replied, and stood, pulling the backpack on. "Grocery store food is way cheaper than train food."

Huh. Kyo hadn't known that.

He pulled his hat down low and then pulled the hood of his hoodie over it for good measure, then stood also, gingerly testing his weight on his bandaged foot. It _did_ feel better, but he'd be damned if he ever told Yuki that.

"To the train station, I guess," Yuki said with forced joviality, and started walking.

Kyo smirked. "Uh, Rat?"

"Yes?"

"You're going completely in the wrong direction. Man; you might be worse than Haru."


	10. Chapter 10

They paid extra for a private compartment. It was a little extravagent for such a short trip, but it had tinted windows and a lockable door, and Yuki wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to stay human.

Funny, though, how all the anxieties crept in once both boys were seated. Until that point, they'd been existing on survival mode. Now they had time to think.

"You really think my brother's shop is the place to go?" Yuki asked. "Ayame is..."

Yuki didn't know how to explain that the snake of the zodiac was practically a stranger to him. They hadn't been raised together. They'd never really talked. The most they ever saw each other was at the New Year's banquet. They had the same blood and the same face, though Ayame was over a decade older, but that was the extent of their similarities.

Kyo shrugged. "Got any better ideas?" he asked defensively. "Your weirdo brother is about as far from the main house as we can go. Haru says nobody screws with him. It's not like we've got any other friends or family to ask..."

This was all true, technically. But...

"He doesn't, um..." Yuki swung his legs, heels kicking the metal rungs of his bench-seat. "He doesn't _like_ me."

Kyo raised his orange eyebrows incredulously. "Are you joking?"

Yuki shrunk down into his hoodie, pulling his arms across his stomach. He remembered the one and only time he'd gone to his brother, taking his arm, looking earnestly into his eyes. He'd wanted to scream, to beg for help, for rescue, for understanding.

 _They're hurting me, niisan. Please,_ please _take me away..._

The words had dried up in Yuki's throat. He hadn't made a sound; he just gripped Ayame's arm and begged with his eyes...

And Ayame had pushed him away with such a cold stare of indifference it may as well have been a slap.

Yuki had been slapped before, of course. By his mother. By Akito. But for some reason, what Ayame had done hurt far worse. Had hurt so much that just thinking about him now, years later, was unbearably painful. It made Yuki's stomach squish and churn.

He didn't know how to explain any of that to Kyo, who had no siblings. Instead, he balled himself up more and kept his mouth shut, just like he had on that day, with Ayame.

Kyo snorted derisively, obviously confused by Yuki's sudden shift in mood, and flopped over on his own seat, sprawling very like a cat with his hand dangling and his head on his arm. In seconds, he was dozing.

Yuki wished he could shake off his feelings so easily. He continued feeling all twisted up inside, wondering if he'd need to throw up. Thinking about his family made him feel small; _so_ small...

And shrinking by the second.

It took him too long to realize his clothes had become enormous, enveloping him like a collapsed circus tent.

"Kyo!" he squeaked, and the cat sat up with a groan, looked him over, and pulled Yuki's shirt open to pull the rat out of the fabric pile.

Yuki expected Kyo to be annoyed with him, but he only set him aside and busied himself folding Yuki's clothes and tucking them inside his backpack, pulling out the shopping bag to make room.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, spreading out Yuki's purchases. Two sandwiches. Two yellow apples. Two bottles of juice. "It's a little early, but what the hell."

He ripped a few pieces off a sandwich, bit a few more chunks off an apple, and set all those and a bottle-cap of juice on a napkin for Yuki, taking the rest for himself.  
  
"You're not mad at me?" Yuki asked, picking up a hunk of apple riddled with Kyo's tooth-marks with both paws and nibbling delicately.

Kyo, wolfing down the meal, gave him a weird look. "Why would I be? I know you're sick. You can't help it."

Oh.

Yuki was too used to everyone blaming him for things he couldn't control. This was an odd feeling indeed.

They passed the rest of the train ride in silence. When they reached their station, Yuki climbed up Kyo's arm and made himself comfortable on his shoulder.  
  
Kyo lightly pushed Yuki away from his neck. "Your little claws tickle. Quit it."  
  
Yuki gripped Kyo's shirt for balance instead. "Rats have nails, not claws."

"Well, that just makes you creepier. Gross."

He was smirking as he said it, though. Teasing? Yuki hadn't had anyone to tease him since he'd been very small and allowed to play with the non-posessed Sohma children, before The Incident.  
  
He held onto a strand of Kyo's hair, glad not to be in the hat as they left the train.

"Where'd you get that bracelet?" he asked, watching Kyo grip the stair-rail as he stepped out into the moderately crowded station. He'd never seen Kyo without it. Was it important to him? Kyo wasn't the fancy type to value jewlery, was he?

Kyo went a little stiff, hiding his left hand behind his back. "None of your business."

So much for teasing, then.

Yuki stayed quiet, watching the world as Kyo walked. He had no idea where Ayame's shop was, and neither, apparently, did Kyo. This city was considerably busier than where the Sohma estate was located, which wasn't surprising; Sohmas valued their privacy and paid a lot of money to keep it.  
  
Still, Yuki looked around in wonder at all the people, all the tall buildings where they worked and shopped and lived. Here, with all the noise an strange fashions, an orange-haired boy with a rat on his shoulder didn't so much as raise an eyebrow.

Kyo stopped at a juice stand at the corner of a busy intersection and ordered a small mango smoothie.

"Could you tell me where the fashion district is?" he asked, and the man working the blenders told him street names and block numbers, apparently not caring why a scruffy boy in a grubby gray hoodie would be interested in such things. Kyo nodded and thanked him.  
  
Kyo sipped his smoothie as he walked, then offered Yuki the straw. Rat mouths aren't designed for suction. Kyo snickered at his cousin's struggle before dipping a finger in the gloopy mess and offering it to Yuki, who spent the next few minutes cleaning it off his whiskers.

The further they travelled, the narrower the streets became; no longer suited for cars, the more the pedestrians increased, and the stranger their outfits became. Rainbow-colored hair and shoes ten inches tall; boys in fancy, feathery gowns and girls in shimmery tuxedos.  
  
Kyo tried to feign nonchalance, like he came here all the time, but Yuki could tell he was just alarmed as Yuki felt. Overwhelming it was, yes, but Yuki couldn't help but admire it, too: this confidence people had to unapologetically be themselves.

Kyo reached a decorative fountain in the middle of a cobblestone square and sat on the rim to catch his breath and his bearings. Apparently his cat's sense of direction could be boggled by too many scents and sounds of an unfamiliar place.  
  
"You lost, kiddo?" an older man with pointy ears and silky green hair asked, and Kyo considered before answering.  
  
"I'm looking for someone named Ayame Sohma? I'm family of his. It's important."  
  
Yuki supposed he had to admit that. Why else would someone like him require someone like Ayame?

The stranger brightened, eyes shining in interest. "Are you really?! That's amazing. He's a legend around here! His prices are a little much for me, but his work is beautiful. So unique..."  
  
"Uh." Kyo stammered, not knowing how to respond to praise for the cousin he barely knew. "Thanks?"  
  
"Of course, of course. So you'll want to make a left at the bank just ahead, and then..."

...

Ayame's shop was more subdued than the boys had expected. It was just an ordinary brown-brick building; steps leading up to a cornered awning. Yuki supposed the heavy curtains were to protect the expensive fabric from the sun... Or to prevent the sensitive snake from becoming too hot.

A tasteful plaque on the door read "Sohma's Fantasy Creations, By Appointment Only."

Well. The old man had steered them right, then. Kyo ascended the steps, tried the door, and found it locked. Then he set to rapping his fists on it.  
  
Yuki hoped they hadn't caught his brother while he was out and about. The only thing that made him more anxious than facing his brother was lurking around his shop waiting for Ayame to show up.  
   
"The boss not answering, huh?"

A woman's voice behind them made them jump. The boys spun around to see a petite Japanese woman on the steps behind them. She was wearing an ostentatious green silk dress in a traditional Chinese fashion, her black hair cut in a shiny bob and her brown eyes carefully made up with long false lashes. They gawked.

"Here, let me." The woman leaned past Kyo to insert a key into the lock. As she did so, her chest brushed his.

"Wait!" Kyo protested, eyes wide with terror. It was too late. In a cloud of orange smoke, he transformed.

Yuki felt himself falling as Kyo shrank, but instead of hitting the concrete step, he fell into a soft palm.

The woman cupped him in one manicured hand and held Kyo-the-cat to her chest with the other, his clothes and backpack landing at her feet. Slowly she brought both animals to her face, staring with startled eyes. Startled... But not shocked.

Yuki squirmed in dread. Now they'd gone and done it. Ayame would have to report this to Hatori, and then Hatori would have to erase this woman's memories, and Yuki would be forced to come home for sure. Kyo would be severely punished, and Yuki...

Yuki would never see sunlight again.

Kyo yowled in fury. With a fierce swipe, he clawed the woman's arms, drawing blood. She yelped in pain and struggled not to drop the thrashing feline.

"Yuki!" Kyo shouted. "Come here! We'll just have to run for it..."

"Oh, no you don't!" The bleeding woman redoubled her grip, clutching both rat and cat to her chest and stepping backwards into the shop, kicking the door shut behind her. "Calm _down,_ Sohmas! I'm not going to hurt you!"

Yuki froze in shock. Next to him, Kyo did the same.

"Whew!" the woman sighed in relief, and shook her disheveled hair out of her eyes, nearly dislodging her glasses in the process. Then she offered them a friendly smile. "Now that the dramatics are over, we should make proper introductions. My name is Mine Kuramae; personal assistant to Ayame Sohma. And you are?"


	11. Chapter 11

Mine carried both boys past a sitting room with several chairs, a slanted artists' desk, and thick, creamy carpet, through another room full of different models of sewing machines and fabric, busts covered in the makings of dresses, and through a closet where plastic-covered gowns hung on racks.  
  
"Um..." Yuki said, quiet and polite now that some of their panic had faded. "Where are you taking us?"  
  
Mine opened a small door at the back of the closet, which led to a narrow staircase.  
  
"We live upstairs," she explained, and started to climb.  
  
"We?" Yuki asked, puzzled. "You mean you... live with my brother?"  
  
"I do."  
  
That was strange, wasn't it? How many employees lived with their bosses? She was living with Ayame, and she knew about their family curse. She was a complete  _outsider;_ nothing like the distant family members sometimes hired to work in Hatori's office _._ This was beyond forbidden. Ayame could be severely punished for such a thing.  
  
Ayame and Hatori were close friends, but Yuki had to wonder whether the snake was keeping this fact a secret from him. Why would he bother, though? Why go to such unnecessary risks?

At the top of the stairs was another door.  
  
Mine set Yuki on her shoulder so she'd have a free hand to use on the handle. He was surprised at how calmly she handled him. Sure, a cat was alright, but in his experience people usually found rats gross. Maybe the fact that she knew he was a person helped?  
  
"There's a bracelet in my clothes," Kyo said unexpectedly. He sounded worried. "It's really important to me..."

"I'll go get it," Mine promised. "Let me just set you down first."  
  
Something about her, how calm she was, how confident, made it easy to trust her. Or maybe it was just that they had no other choice. Because she was opening the door and then they were inside Ayame's little home.

The first thing Yuki noticed was how sunny and humid it was inside, feeling like the rainforest in the middle of summer. There were many large windows and skylights with two humidifiers running on full. His whiskers became damp almost instantly, and his and Kyo's fur started to poof.  
  
"Why is it so _hot?!"_ Kyo gasped, and Mine sighed.  
  
"Excuse us. We weren't expecting guests."  
  
She turned one of the humidifiers off and then bent to switch off a space heater, too.  
  
Yuki understood. Ayame was a snake. Of course he would want to keep his home like this.  
  
Mine opened a few fogged-up windows, and the cool air circulation was a blessed relief. Now that the humidity wasn't so oppressive, Yuki could take in the other surroundings.

It was much smaller and less glamorous than Yuki would have expected of his brother. The setup was like that of a one-bedroom apartment, though more spacious and well-stocked than most.  
  
It looked, well, like a _home._ A place where people lived. Trailing spider plants hung in pots from the ceiling. A plastic-covered sofa, no doubt meant to protect the stuffing from growing mold in all the damp, sat before the television.  
  
There was a coffee table covered in papers featuring scribbled-out dress designs and a few half-drunk mugs of tea. It faced a television, currently switched off.  
  
On the same table as the humidifier, next to a little half-kitchen, was a victrola, its horn bigger than Kyo's whole cat body and painted to look like peacock feathers. In the kitchen itself, where someone might have kept a china cabinet, was a glass hutch full of sleeved records and books too valuable to get wet.  
   
The shelf above the sink of dirty dishes held a tank, and in it...  
   
Yuki, a prey animal, squirmed in discomfort. "You have a pet snake?"  
  
"She's just a little ghost-corn snake, don't you worry," Mine crooned, smiling at the pink, slit-nosed face peeping out from between decorative rocks. "She showed up at our door one day and wouldn't leave. The boss is like a magnet for them! We named her Verne, after the author."

"Dearest, is there a draft?" a male voice called from a door down a short hallway. "I feel a chill..."  
  
The door opened, and a head of silken white hair peered out, looking around in puzzlement.  
   
"Sorry, boss." Mine held Kyo up by way of explination. "You've got some visitors."  
  
Ayame's golden eyes went wide.  
  
_"Kyo!"  
_

...

Kyo and Yuki were set in the bathroom with their clothing as they waited to transform...

... And also, Yuki could tell, because Ayame and Mine wanted to talk without being overheard.  
  
He squirmed anxiously, just imagining what his brother might be saying. _Useless. Good-for-nothing. Akito's toy. Stupid little boy._

Kyo interrupted Yuki's dour thoughts, sitting on the floor mat with his tail curled around his feet.  
  
"Are Ayame and that lady... uh. _You know?"_

He was staring at some lacy lady's undergarments hanging up to dry on the shower rod. Yuki was choosing to believe they belonged to one of their customers, though even a casual glance told him they were too worn to be sold in a high-end place like this.  
  
The makeup scattered across the counter? The two toothbrushes in the cabinet? The different brands of soap in the shower? It didn't have to mean anything other than causal roommates.

Yuki was young, and he was sheltered, but he wasn't stupid. He knew better.

"I don't understand why he'd take such a big risk," he sighed, rubbing his paws over his eyes, scratching behind his ears. "That's so _dangerous."_

"I just didn't think he swung that way," Kyo replied bluntly, licking a paw to groom his ear. "You know. For girls."

If he'd been big enough to, Yuki would have thrown a tube of lipstick at Kyo's head. It wasn't any of their business who Ayame was and wasn't "into."  
  
"People can like both," stupid cat," he grumbled. "Haru does."  
  
Kyo didn't argue with that. A second later he arched his back and stretched, butt high in the air as his claws lightly dragged the bathroom rug. In a burst of smoke, he went from being Kyo-the-cat to Kyo-the-boy again.  
  
Yuki closed his eyes as Kyo dressed. It was interesting, how he heard the rattle of beads before the rustle of fabric. Kyo cared more about his bracelet than he did his pants.  
  
After dressing, he picked Yuki and his backpack up, putting one on each shoulder, and left the bathroom behind.

They found Ayame and Mine at their table, a medicine basket between them,, talking quietly and seriously.  
  
Ayame had Mine's arm stretched out and was using tweezers to dab a cotton ball soaked in peroxide along her fresh scratches. Kyo squirmed guiltily.  
  
"I'm sorry I did that," he mumbled, looking down at the ground. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I just wanted you to put me down."  
  
"I forgive you," Mine said easily enough. "But you've got to wash the dishes after dinner tonight."  
  
"Okay," Kyo agreed, and then blinked. "Wait, what? Dinner?"  
  
"I don't know what's going on," Ayame said, "But it looks like you two are in some trouble. Such an intense, exciting tale may only be shared over the finest meal!"  
  
Dramatic as ever, it seemed.

After doctoring Mine's arms up, Ayame looked up at them with his unnerving snake's eyes. He was wearing a heavy coat and bedroom slippers, and looked much less fancy than usual in reader glasses with his inconveniently long hair braided into a bun on the back of his head.  
  
This was casual at-home Ayame, when the boys were so accustomed to seeing gussied-up New Years Ayame, and still he dazzled.

He was so pale that Mine's hand on his colorless arm took on a sharp, dark contrast, despite the fact that she herself was fairly fair-skinned. She wasn't a particularly clumsy person, but the way Ayame moved; all sinuous joints and rolling, liquid muscles, like he had too many bones in his spine, put her to shame.

How anyone mistook him for human was beyond Yuki. Beautiful? Yes. Human? No.

"Sweet little kitty-cat," Ayame purred with obvious relish. "Why is my brother still wearing that shape?"

"You could ask me," Yuki muttered. "I'm right here."  
  
Maybe it was because he was standing on Kyo's shoulder, holding a strand of his hair for balance, but he felt a little braver than usual. Brave enough to mouth off some.  
  
Ayame swiveled to look at him, and Yuki flinched back, remembering the last time those eyes had been directly on him. Maybe not so brave, then.  
  
As though sensing his anxiety, Kyo took a step back, brought up a hand to cover Yuki, and raised his lip to show fangs.

"He's a rat cuz he's sick. He's had the shit beaten out of him so many times that he cries in his sleep, and his body doesn't remember what it's like to stay human. Are you gonna help us, or are you just gonna throw us away like all the other adults in our fucked-up family do?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On a scale from one to "holy crap, Mugs; stop!" how obvious is it that teen-me had a BIG ol crush on Ayame?


	12. Chapter 12

"You didn't have to buy us all this stuff," Kyo mumbled, fresh from the bath and presented with brand new pajamas. The two adults had gone out and purchased a lot in town that day; bags of clothes and school supplies and bedding and toiletries...  
  
"It's no trouble." Mine waved him off, chuckling. "The boss and I love _any_ excuse to go shopping; trust me."  
   
Kyo squirmed some, unaccustomed to generosity without strings attached. "But we can't really... repay you..."  
  
Mine, despite being in her twenties, stood at exactly Kyo's height. Tiny thing. She met his eyes in warm sincerity. "Kyo? You're a kid. You're entitled to adults taking care of you. We have plenty of money. Spending some on you is our privilege."  
  
This only made Kyo squirm more. She was an outsider. She may know that he was a cat, but she didn't know what it meant to be _the_ cat. What a monster he was; what utter garbage...  
  
"Kyo?" She lightly touched his shoulder and he startled, flinching back.  
  
"What?!" he barked, heart pounding too hard in his chest, inexplicably anxious.  
  
Her eyes were so kind. She knew. She knew him down to his ugly heart, knew every terrible thing that had ever happened to him. Did she know that his mom had killed herself? Did she know that it was his fault?  
  
Did she know that he deserved to be dead, too? Everyone said so. Kyo knew it was true.  
   
He was breathing too hard. His eyes stung. And Mine looked a little worried.  
  
"Kyo. Sweetheart. Breathe slow. Breathe with me."  
  
Mine took his other shoulder and held tight to him, her thumbs rubbing soothing circles on his skin. She breathed loud and slow, and after a moment, Kyo copied her until his head felt a little better.  
   
"I would hug you," she said with a little chuckle, "but I think that might make you feel worse. Want me to go grab the boss and make _him_ hug you?"  
  
The last thing in the world Kyo wanted was a hug from Ayame, but the mental image was a little funny. Not funny enough to laugh, but he smiled a little. "No, thanks."  
   
Mine beamed. _"_ _There_ you are." She lightly touched his cheek. Usually Kyo hated it when people got too handsy, but he didn't mind her so much. It reminded him of...  
  
Her hand travelled up his cheek to his wet hair. "Would you like me to comb this for you?" she asked.  
  
Kyo opened his mouth to say no, then changed his mind. What was the harm, right? And it sounded kind of nice. Just this once. "Sure. Okay."

Mine had Kyo sit on the closed toilet lid before she set to combing the snarls out of his bright hair, her manicured hands gentle. She was an artist with needle and thread, and her dexterous fingers showed it.  
  
It wasn't exactly like when his mother had once done this for him, but... But it was similar.  
  
Kyo closed his eyes, and didn't open them again until she was finished.  
  
To Mine's credit, she didn't comment on the silent stream of tears that tracked down his cheeks as she worked, either.

...

By the time Yuki was ready to climb out of his bath (Mine dried him with the lowest setting on her blow-dryer), Ayame had moved the table and sofa in the main room and set up a large guest futon, complete with sheets and pillow and...  
  
"Niisan, you _didn't,"_ Yuki squeaked in embarrassment, hiding his face as he saw the fat, marshmallow-textured plush rat and cat on their pillows.  
  
Ayame grinned like the devil. "What? Do you not appreciate the company?"  
  
Both boys could hear the snicker in his voice. Jerk.  
  
Yuki hadn't ever seen his brother like this; jovial and laughing. Was this what he was like all the time? Yuki had no way of knowing. He still felt unsure and cautious.  
  
"Is everything to your liking?" Mine asked. "Sorry we don't have much space up here."  
  
Kyo looked self-conscious to be getting into bed in front two near-strangers, but they'd gone to all the trouble of buying it...  
  
He grit his teeth, set Yuki down onto the plush rat, pulled the blanket back, and climbed into bed.  
  
It was warm and clean and soft, and it smelled nice. Kyo sighed.  
  
Mine, squatting, pulled the soft blue blanket up to Kyo's chin, smoothing it over him. She pet his hair, too, like she thought he was still a cat. "Are you comfortable?"  
  
Kyo nodded, so she turned to Yuki, running a gentle index finger down his little back. "How about you?"  
  
He peeked shyly from the rat plushie at her. "I'm okay, ma'am."  
  
She giggled, and he hid his face under his tail. Kyo rolled his eyes. When he glanced at Ayame, he saw the man watching his brother with an indescribable emotion in his eyes. It was softness, yes, but not quite sadness. Perhaps regret?  
  
When he noticed Kyo watching him, he forced a huge smile that could have made a toothpaste commercial. "I so hate to cut our day short, boys, but Mine and I have some early-morning appointments. We'd best get some sleep. You know where the bathroom is, you're welcome to anything in the kitchen if you clean up after yourselves..." He grabbed the TV remote and put it next to their bed. "Watch anything you like, as long as the volume is low. Anything else?"  
  
"The pajamas," Mine reminded him, and he nodded. From one of the shopping bags he withdrew a pair of pajamas that matched the ones Kyo now wore and set them nearby.  
  
"In case Yuki transforms," he explained. It seemed they really had thought of everything.

They said their goodnights, and the adults retreated into their room. Their  _singular_ bedroom, and Kyo didn't think they were sleeping in two twin beds, like college students in a dorm room.

"How do you think they do that?" Kyo asked quietly, unsure how good a snake's hearing was. Probably not  _that_ good, right? They didn't have any ears! "Do they like. Put up a pillow barricade, or does he just go for it and stay a snake all night?"

"I don't know and I don't care," Yuki grumbled. Kyo was pretty sure he was lying. How could he  _not_ care? This went against everything their family stood for. This was defying God.

Then again, weren't they themselves defying God just by running from him?

There was a quiet rustling as Yuki stood and climbed off the toy, then walked across the blankets to the remote. He had to push with effort to turn the TV on and then quickly lower the volume. Kyo watched him drag the remote back up to the pillows and sit between it and Kyo.

"You're not tired, are you?" he asked.

Kyo shook his head. He was too wired for sleep. He watched Yuki flick through channels instead, the smell of his anxiety rising with every passing second.

"What's your problem?" Kyo snapped when the rapidly changing lights and colors of the channels began to be overwhelming. "We got here, didn't we? What more do you want?"

It was with effort that he left out the last two words of his question: from me. What more do you want  _from me._ Hadn't Kyo done enough? He'd risked everything to bring Yuki this far, and he'd gained nothing from it. He wasn't more liked, more accepted in the family. He still knew exactly what they all, Yuki included, thought of him. If he had half a brain at all, he'd leave now before they  _forced_ him to leave.

But leaving was the furthest thing from his mind when the small rat leaned against his hand, anxiously holding onto one of the beads in Kyo's bracelet.

"I'm scared this is all a trap," Yuki told him. "And they're going to send us right back home the second they get a chance."


	13. Chapter 13

Yuki woke first that morning, hearing the muffled radio play of Mine and Ayame's alarm clock through the wall.  
   
He'd transformed late that night, climbing out of bed only to change into his new pajamas before falling back asleep. He hadn't, so far, shifted again. That was a good sign, right?  
  
Only, he thought it might be easier to face his current situation as a rat. There were certain expectations from human boys that weren't placed on rats. He was a little scared to face his brother in this shape.

He held still as he thought about his situation, his options. Kyo was such a light sleeper that if Yuki moved around too much, he would wake... And he looked tired, his skin blotchy, his eyes bagged. He seriously needed some sleep.  
  
He thought about what Kyo had said, about him crying in his sleep. Was that true? How embarrassing. The more time they spent together, the more dirt the cat had on him. They hadn't been friends before this started, and he doubted Kyo liked him any better now that he'd caused him so much trouble.

Yuki knew what Kyo was; what role he played in their family. Yet it was hard to look at this boy and think: _monster._ He just... He looked like a boy with bright hair and a feisty streak a mile wide. It was hard not to admire a boy like that, when Yuki had always been so quiet, so afraid.

Kyo had protected him a bunch of times now, when it would have been so much easier to abandon him. Yuki couldn't forget that. He wasn't sure he could ever repay it, either, but the least he could do was remember it, when all of this was over.

So there he sat, watching Kyo's eyes twitch under his lids as he dreamed, until Ayame stepped barefoot out of the bathroom and into the main room, tying a bathrobe around his waist as he walked.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, seeing his brother in this new shape, and the new voice jolted Kyo awake. Even before his sunset eyes had opened fully, he'd already moved closer to Yuki in a defensive crouch. He had a protective instinct a mile wide, that was for sure. "Good morning."

"Good morning," Yuki repeated, sitting up a little shyly. Ayame's white hair was wet and unstyled from the shower. How long must it take each day to care for such a mane?

Ayame looked at him a little funny. He'd probably never heard Yuki's voice before, barring the day before when it had been tiny and squeaky from his little rat lungs.

Feeling more self-conscious than ever, Yuki looked down at his knees, remembering over and over again like a shadow that wouldn't go away how Ayame had pushed him away.

They were both older now. Maybe Ayame was a happier person, now that he had his own home and shop and girlfriend far away from the pain of the main house. Maybe he was nicer.

... But maybe he wasn't. Maybe this was all a trap.

"Are you two hungry?" Ayame asked, stepping carefully over their futon on his way to the kitchen. "I'm not much of a cook, but there's the loveliest French café a few blocks away we sometimes order breakfast from."  
  
He opened a drawer and pulled a paper menu out, holding it up for them to see. _Le Madeline,_ it was called, and had a list of breakfast options written in both French and Japanese.

Yuki's tummy felt too queasy, too nervous for food, but Kyo nodded and held out a hand for the menu. Ayame passed it over and opened the freezer, pulling out a small cardboard box labeled "pinkies" and pulling out...  
  
Yuki's whole body went stiff all over. He knew what that was. He didn't want to look at it, but he couldn't look away.  
  
Ayame opened the window above the sink, letting in early morning sunlight, and set a cloth towel on the sill. On the towel he rested the dead, frozen, hairless baby mouse to defrost in the warmth, its tiny paws stiff in the air.

Kyo, busy reading the menu, didn't notice. Not as Ayame filled the kettle and set it on the stove; not as Mine emerged, tousle-haired and groggy, and went out onto the balcony where she'd hung a hand-washed corset out to dry.

On stepping back inside, she noticed the boy where earlier a rat had been.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, eyes wide, smile huge. "Oh, you are _adorable!_ You look just like the boss!"

"Does he?" Ayame asked, amused, as she stepped between Kyo and Yuki on the bed and squatted between them, her nightgown pooling around her ankles as she looked Yuki over.  
  
"Of course he does! Look at the shape of his chin, his cheeks, that little button-nose, those _eyelashes_ _..._ Yuki, you're such a doll!"

Bubbly as a chickadee, she moved to hug him, then quickly thought better of it, laughing, and settled for patting his head, instead.  
  
"Oh, yes," Ayame said, unbothered, and poured four cups of tea through a strainer. "Our family factory has only the one setting: cute and untouchable. Even Kyo, whenever he deigns to stop scowling."  
  
Kyo rolled his eyes, then reddened when Mine reached to muss his hair, too.

She seemed pleased to see the menu in his hands. "Ooh, Madelines! Crêpes and cream for me, please."

Ayame waved her off. "I haven't forgotten your favorite, mon chou."

When she stood, he pulled her close and kissed her cheek, pushing a teacup into her hands and nudging her back towards their bedroom. "We're on a time crunch, so dress quickly!"

 _"You're_ the one who takes forever to get ready," she grumbled, but did so good naturedly, taking her corset with her and shutting the door.

All the while, Yuki couldn't seem to take his eyes or mind off the pinkie defrosting on the windowsill. It wasn't that it was shocking — Ayame had a pet snake, after all, and those things had to eat _something_ — but it just felt like a bad omen; foreshadowing... something.

Or maybe Yuki was just paranoid.

Kyo requested a very meat-based breakfast and Yuki, uncomfortable to a fault, mumbled that he wanted the same thing. When Kyo stood, probably wanting the bathroom, Yuki seized his arm and held on with all his strength, not wanting to be left alone with Ayame.

Yuki and Kyo exchanged a silent conversation while Ayame spoke on the phone with the restaurant; all raised eyebrows and exaggerated glances and pursed lips.

_I have to pee, rat!_

_Not now! Can't you hold it?_

_You're being stupid._

Much to their relief, Ayame went to his and Mine's room after hanging up and shut the door behind him, presumably to also get dressed and ready. Shaking Yuki off, Kyo let out an irritated snort and stalked to the bathroom.

Yuki sighed. He didn't mean to be annoying; he was just... Scared. He didn't know how much he could trust his brother and her girlfriend, and he feared being sent home more than anything. It would be better to be homeless on the streets than to...

To...

Thinking about that made him feel squirmy and trapped. Maybe if he was really good and really quiet, everybody could pretend he wasn't even there, and he'd be allowed to grow up unbothered.

He stood and tidied the futon, pulling the blankets smooth and arranging the pillows just so. He went to the sofa crunched against the far wall where Mine had placed their shopping bags and rustled through until he found clothes he supposed were meant for him.

He changed out of his pajamas into a tidy outfit of slacks and shirt, socks and shoes, and quickly folded and hid his pajamas away, then sat and tried to be quiet and unobtrusive; as easy to overlook as a stain on the floor.

Something hard in one of the bags was pressing into his leg, and he glanced at it, surprised to see a two matching grade seven maths textbooks. He and Kyo were grade seven...

Or would be, he supposed, if he'd been allowed to go to school.

Did Ayame intend to _send_ them to school? Did that mean he really was going to keep them?

The toilet flushed. The sink ran as hands were washed. Kyo emerged and looked around for him, frowning when he found Yuki all mashed up in the corner.

"What are you doing _now?"_ he asked, exasperated, and crossed the room to join him.

...

As soon as Ayame and Mine went downstairs to meet clients for fittings and design discussions, Kyo was on the hunt.

"Come on," he said, and grabbed Yuki's wrist, tugging him down the hallway.

"Where are we going?" Yuki asked, stumbling as he followed. He'd shifted between bodies so often lately that it was easy to forget how to correctly move; that he no longer had a tail for balance. He balked hard when Kyo reached for the bedroom door handle.

"We're not supposed to go in there!" Yuki squeaked, pulling Kyo back. No, Ayame and Mine hadn't said they _couldn't_ go in their room, but if they'd wanted them to do it, they would have shown them already, wouldn't they?

Kyo snorted. "Quit being such a pansy. Come _on._ We gotta see what we're working with."

Working with...?

Kyo opened the door and stepped inside and, rather than be left staring in the hallway, Yuki awkwardly followed.

It was no bigger than the rest of their home; cramped and cluttered and a mess of fabrics and makeup and wooden crates labeled with things like "Charmeuse; 10 yards; 4 skeins" and "Vucana; 16 yards." It was less a bedroom and more a warehouse of high-end materials. It was clear to see Mine and Ayame lived and breathed for their work. Where other homes had paintings and photographs on the walls, these two had bolts of fabric.

"What are you looking for?" Yuki asked, careful not to touch anything as he followed Kyo through the room. The bed, western-style like Haru's, was crammed like an afterthought in a corner, rumpled and unmade with a huge electric blanket on top. Above it was a window, the filmy curtains stirring from a breeze.

Kyo climbed onto the bed and walked on his knees over to the window, looking outside. "Found it," he said, and gestured for Yuki to come look, too. Yuki tried to keep off the bed as much as possible. "What is—" "It's a fire escape. You were whining about how you didn't trust them. Problem? Solution!" Kyo talked with his hands a lot, gesturing to underscore his words.

The rickety, metal gooseneck ladder that led from the window to the ground below was, certainly, a method of escape, but Yuki didn't like thinking about having to rely on that. It would be noisy, it required going into the bedroom, which might not always be possible, and what would happen once they reached the bottom? If they had to run, mightnt there be people waiting for them?

Yuki noticed that Kyo wasn't looking down, but rather up at the nearby buildings, at _their_ balconies and railings.

"I could make that jump," he said, pointing to the florist shop just next door. He wasn't bragging or speculating; just stating simple fact. Yuki believed him.

"I couldn't," Yuki replied, knowing that just trying would result in him broken and bleeding in the alley between buildings.

"I know..." Kyo chewed the thought over. "If you were a rat, I could carry you."

There were a lot of "if"s to that. If Yuki was a rat. If they made it to the bedroom. If they couldn't use the stairs. If they got caught.

Still, Yuki reflected, nobody had ever gone to such efforts trying to make him feel safe before, either. Kyo was something else.


	14. Chapter 14

The two boys settled into a rhythm over the next few days in Ayame's home. Mostly the adults stayed downstairs in their shop, while the boys remained upstairs.  
  
The cat in Kyo was growing restless; uneasy with the complacency. The boy in him was just glad to have regular meals, showers, and a soft place to sleep at night. Sleeping on the streets was preferable to living with his father, but this was infinitely better, safer, warmer.  
  
... For now, anyway. Kyo had no doubt that it wouldn't last much longer. Good things never, ever lasted.  
  
On the third day, over a dinner of (takeout) curry, Ayame regarded the two with his strange gold eyes. "So," the snake said, and Kyo instantly bristled, sensing danger. (Fight? Flight? Fight!)  
  
Oblivious to Kyo's inner turmoil, Ayame continued. "You know you can't stay here indefinitely."  
  
Mine regarded her boyfriend in confusion. "Why on earth not? I know things are a little cramped, but we've got that extra corner of space downstairs. I figured we could set up some dividing curtains; buy a bunk bed; enroll the boys in school..."  
  
It was a beautiful, if hopeless, dream. Kyo loved Mine all the more for it. She'd accepted him and Yuki in her home as though it were the most natural thing in the world. She was a truly good person, and in his world, that was a rare thing indeed.  
  
Yuki hung his head sadly, scuffing his heels against the legs of his chair. He'd been human for most of the time since arriving at Ayame's home. His cough was fading, and his skin had more color to it. Even his eyes and hair were looking brighter; glossier. If he was allowed to live here like this for just a little longer, he'd probably put on some much-needed weight.  
  
"Dearest," Ayame said, reaching to touch Mine's hand. He'd painted his perfectly manicured fingernails a glittering silver. For once, he sounded completely serious. "You know our family isn't like other families."  
  
"Well, of course, but--"  
  
"It's not just that we transform, Mine. If anything, that's a minor side-effect to a much greater problem. We are... Insular. Violent. Some would say cultish. We have money-- enough money to hush the authorities, the media-- we have influence, and we have a very far reach, with companies and allies spanning Germany, Italy, and even America."  
  
Kyo frowned. Was that true? He knew the Sohmas owned a ton of land. They were more like the clans of feudal Japan, ruled by a monarchy, than a true family. Many "families" within their walls bore the name of house Sohma without technically being blood at all. Their banquet remained unchanging as the world outside grew and changed every day. They were trapped in a stasis, in a dance that would never end.  
  
But he didn't know about all that other stuff. How could he? He was just a kid. An outsider. Nobody told him anything.  
  
Mine made a considering sound, drawing her hand away from Ayame's touch. "You make it sound like you're... a mafia, or something," she said with a nervous little laugh, looking hopefully at her boyfriend as though wanting him to laugh, too.  
  
Ayame didn't laugh. "I told you we were dangerous," he said softly. "There are no secrets between us. You possess a freedom I will never have, mon chou."  
   
Mine pursed her lips, thinking this over with clear discomfort on her face. "I still don't understand why the boys can't live with us."

"Because sooner or later, Akito will think to search here," Yuki surprised everyone by saying. He usually remained quiet. "Akito is our head of house. He makes all the decisions."

"But this is a private residence--"

"That Akito owns," Ayame finished for her. "He wouldn't have let me live anywhere he didn't own."

 _"Let_ you? You're a grown man!"

This was almost impossible to explain to an outsider, wasn't it? Ayame looked uncomfortable. Yuki looked like he'd said everything he wanted to say. Kyo sighed.

"We can't just not do what he says," Kyo explained. "Like, literally. We can't. Even if we wanted to. If Akito asked Ayame where we were, Ayame would tell him. There's nothing any of us can do about it."

Mine's brows pinched together on her forehead like two caterpillars kissing. "Is that... part of the curse?"

"It's not something we can talk about very much," Ayame said, voice strained. "Kyo's a little bit of an exception. He can tell you more than Yuki and I can."

He was shaking, Kyo noticed. He set his chopsticks down and held his hands tight in his lap to hide it, but he was trembling something awful. Kyo hadn't known he had more freedom of speech than the other Jyuunishi, but he supposed it made some sense. The cat was an outsider among outsiders.

"Kyo?" Yuki said in his soft voice. "Maybe tell Mine about Kana?"

Oh... Kana Sohma, Hatori's fiancé? The one Akito had delivered a beating to before damaging Hatori's eye forever? It wasn't a pretty story, but maybe it would help Mine understand exactly what they were facing up against. Even Hatori, who seemed so strong and in control, had been unable to lift his finger to protect the woman he loved. Not against their God.

Clumsily, Kyo recounted the story to the best of his knowledge. Ayame spoke up with corrections whenever Kyo got something wrong. By the end, Mine had her hands to her mouth, her eyes huge and damp.

 _"That's_ what happened to his eye?! I thought it was an accident... How can someone go around hurting people, hurting _children_ like that?"

The three Sohmas had no answer for that.

Mine stared at him long after the story had finished, then dropped her head, fiddling with the hem of her fancy dress. She reached for her cup to take several stabilizing gulps of tea. When she lifted her head again, Kyo saw fire in her eyes.

"So if this 'Akito' walked into our store tomorrow and asked for the boys, you would hand them over," she clarified. "Even though whatever he was doing to Yuki was obviously hurting him very badly. Calling the police won't do any good."

Ayame nodded.

Mine thought for a few more minutes. "Akito has no control over me," she declared at last. "You said it yourself. I have freedom."

Again, Ayame nodded, a lock of silver hair falling from its clip to coil down his back.

"So if I found somewhere safe for the boys to go--"

"Stop." Ayame interrupted. "If you're coming up with any plans, you can't tell me what they are. I can't know." There was a new urgency in his golden eyes. "Think of Kana. Think of yourself. Please."

 _He loves her,_ Kyo realized, staring between the two. _He really, really loves her. He wants to keep her, even though it's forbidden. Even after what happened to Hatori._

It was a staggering thought. One of the bravest, quietest acts of rebellion he'd ever seen. Maybe Ayame was helping them this much because he admired that they, too, were defying Akito; just as he was.

Mine nodded slowly. She looked her boyfriend right in the eyes and lied to his face. "I have no plans at all. I want nothing to do with these boys."

Ayame nodded back. "And that's what I'll say if anyone asks."

"Good." She resumed picking at her curry, but didn't take a bite. They'd all quite lost their appetites. Then, "Boss?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Permission to take the next three days off work? I have some personal matters to handle."  
  
"Permission granted. I hope you enjoy your time off."

* * *

Mine left early the next morning, before the sun even rose. Yuki slept straight through her tiptoeing out the door, luggage in hand, but Kyo woke right away.  
  
For a moment, he and Mine locked eyes. Kyo remembered what Rin had said, that his eyes glowed in the dark. He wondered if that was scary to Mine. He wondered if she was running away; if she'd decided their family was too dangerous, and she really did want nothing to do with them anymore.  
  
He couldn't blame her for that, if that was the case. He didn't think Ayame would, either, even if his heart broke.  
   
But then Mine squared her shoulders and lifted her chin in strong determination. "I'll come back for you," she told Kyo.  
  
He believed her. God help him, but he believed her with all his heart.  
  
"Be safe," he said. She stepped out, locking the door behind her.

* * *

"Can you show me how to do this?" Yuki timidly asked, touching Kyo's elbow. He was sitting out on the balcony, their math textbook spread open before him.  
  
Kyo glanced up from his comic book to look at what Yuki pointed to. He was trying to teach himself to multiply monomials. He'd dutifully copied out, on a scratch piece of paper, ( 8a3 )( 4a2 ) and now stared at it blankly.  
  
Kyo had no idea how much school Yuki had missed while locked in the cat's room, but he was probably nervous about being too far behind if he ever went back. Luckily, Kyo was pretty good at math.  
  
"I guess," he said, shutting his comic and taking Yuki's pencil. "Here, first you multiply the exponents-- that's those little numbers floating on the sides..."  
  
Yuki was a quick student. Working together, it wasn't long before he was able to solve the problems on his own. It made Kyo feel good to be useful. Weird, but good. His cousin wasn't at all like he'd expected-- he wasn't entitled, wasn't snobby. He was just... Just a quiet, scared kid, just like Kyo.  
  
Suddenly, something shot up the leg of Kyo's pants, fast as a bullet. He froze, bristling, clenching the edge of the metal table. "What the _hell?!"_  
  
Yuki stared at him in confusion as he hopped up, a leg on the table, and reached up to fish it out. The thing in his pants was too fast and in a second it had crawled up his chest and peeped its little face through the collar of his shirt.  
  
It was a snake. Not just any snake. Ayame's little pet snake, who lived in the tank in the kitchen. _Double_ 'what the hell' indeed!  
  
The snake opened and closed its jaws, showing tiny fangs like it was trying to speak. It bit down on Kyo's chin, but not hard enough to break skin. Then it scooted up higher and did the same to his nose. Kyo went cross-eyed trying to look at it.  
   
Kyo was no snake expert, but he knew for sure that snakes didn't normally act like this.  
  
"Did Ayame send it out here?" Yuki asked, quicker on the uptake than Kyo.  
  
Oh... that would explain a lot. Just as Kyo could speak to cats and Yuki, to rats, so too could Ayame speak to snakes. If Ayame's relationship with snakes was similar to the one between Kyo and cats, snakes loved him and wanted to do as he said. If Ayame asked this little guy to go out and bother the boys, it would obey him.

But _why..._

Yuki suddenly gasped and grabbed Kyo's waist, dragging him backwards, all the way to two large, empty clay pots meant to hold flowers, if Ayame or Mine had been at all interested in gardening.

Yuki pulled him down behind the pots, tugging on his arm until Kyo crouched low with him out of sight of the glass sliding doors.

"What?!" Kyo whispered, scared by Yuki's sudden intensity.

"Someone's here!" Yuki replied, his pupils shrunk to tiny pinpricks in his panic.

_Oh, no..._

Kyo held tight to Yuki, fearing the worst. He couldn't see anything from this angle, but the fear in Yuki's voice was real. Someone was in the kitchen, and it wasn't just Ayame or Mine. It was obviously bad news, or Ayame wouldn't have sent the warning snake.

Well. If they wanted to take Yuki away, they'd have to go through Kyo first. He'd gone through too much trouble keeping his cousin safe to just give up now.

Ayame had hung up some petticoats to air-dry on the clothesline out here, and the voluminous fabric provided some protection from the window. It was possible somebody looking for them wouldn't see them if they held very still.  
  
"If he sent the snake," Yuki whispered. "It can't be Akito himself." If it was Akito, it would already be too late. Maybe it was Kureno or Hatori. Ayame could lie to _them_ if he wanted.

The snake, message delivered, curled around Kyo's throat like a necklace, probably just wanting his body heat. Kyo normally hated things tight around his neck, refusing stiff shirt-collars or neckties, but he didn't dare fidget or squirm right now.

The cat in him didn't like this one bit, though, trapped between the flowerpots, the cold bars of the balcony railing, and Yuki's body. This was a Bad Situation all around.

Yuki hid his face in Kyo's shoulder. He was trembling so hard it felt like he'd break apart. "I can't go back..." he begged, tears of terror audible in his voice. "P-please don't make me go back... I can't! I'll die!"

Kyo grit his teeth, making up his mind. No matter what it took, no matter what they did to him, he would not let anybody lock Yuki up in that little black room ever again. Even if it meant defying God himself.

... Even if it meant being locked in that same little room himself. He was the cat. He was an ugly, nasty monster who might as well have killed his mother with his own two hands, just like his father was always saying. He _deserved_ that hell. Yuki didn't. That was his fate anyway. What did it matter if it happened a little earlier than planned?

The window above the kitchen sink was cracked open, Kyo noticed, though the blinds were now drawn. That must have been how Ayame let the snake out.  
  
From it, Kyo heard a familiar voice. "It's been way too long since I've had some of your delicious tea, Aya."  
  
"Shigure," Kyo whispered.


	15. Chapter 15

Shigure was a strange man, even for a Sohma. It was so hard to tell what he was thinking about behind that smile of his. His jokes were silly, but his eyes were cold; calculating. Yuki couldn't begin to guess who's side the dog was on, other than his own.  
  
Though he'd only met his cousin a handful of times in his life, the prey animal inside him didn't trust him, not one bit.  
  
Like Hatori, the dog was similar in age to Ayame. The three had grown up together. Gone to school together. They were friends, Yuki guessed, or at least they spent a lot of time in one another's company. But did they really like each other?  
  
... Did Shigure really like _anyone?_  
  
Yuki didn't know what Bad Thing Shigure had done to get banished from the main house, sent to live in a house in the woods, but it must have been very bad indeed. Yet despite this Bad Thing, he was still more a part of the family than Kyo would ever be.

Well, he sure seemed chummy with Ayame now. They made back-and-forth jokes; the kind that made Yuki's face redden. Jokes he'd never repeat.  
  
He felt a little better pressed up against the corner of the balcony railing, Kyo crushing into him hard. Small spaces felt safe to the rat. When he closed his eyes and hid his face in Kyo's shoulder, he could pretend none of this bad stuff was happening.  
  
Kyo was strong and smart and fast. Kyo could always find a way out. It was safer with Kyo. If Yuki got taken away, if Yuki got forced back into that terrible room, the room that would surely become his grave, well... Then he'd go happy he had this time with his cousin. It was the most adventure he'd ever had in his short life. Kyo had cared for him more than anybody ever had before.  
  
He could have that one good memory, at least.  
  
He felt Kyo's bracelet under his fingers. The strange beads-- they weren't plastic or wood or stone or metal or any other material Yuki recognized -- grounded and reassured him. The snake around Kyo's neck moved to press into Yuki's temple, almost like it was giving him a kiss.  
  
"That's quite a setup you've got there," Shigure said inside the house. "Do you have visitors?"  
  
He must be talking about the futon and bags of clothes!   
   
Ayame laughed it off smoothly. "Yes, actually. A loyal customer of mine -- poor man; he'd be _devastatingly_ handsome were it not for that unfortunate harelip -- had a little too much to drink at a nearby bar last night. I happened to see him trying to get into his car -- a Lamborghini, can you _imagine!_ \-- and, like the gracious and  _humble_ public servant I am, _demanded_ he stay here instead. I can't abide drunk drivers."  
  
The lie sounded convincing, at least, but Yuki hoped Shigure didn't look too close and realize the bags held clothes for children; not a grown man.  
  
"You big softie."  
  
"Not at all! He's spent millions of yen at my shop over the years. I would dearly miss his credit card if he died in some foolish crash."  
  
"Ah, see, _that's_ the Aya I know."  
  
Yuki dared relax a tiny bit. Maybe this was just a normal visit after all.

There was a cheerful clink of a tea set on a table. Yuki heard Ayame rustling in the fridge, perhaps gathering sandwich fixings.  
  
"Mind if I smoke?" Shigure asked.  
  
"The ashtray is on the windowsill."  
  
Footsteps fell as Shigure approached. Kyo clapped a hand over Yuki's mouth and dragged him down until he was practically lying on top of him, though Yuki hadn't made a sound. Shigure was so close they heard the strike of a match from the window; the breath he exhaled.  
  
"Taking up middle school mathematics, Aya?" Shigure asked, curious amusement in his voice.  
  
Oh, _no._ The textbooks! Right in plain sight!

"Hm? Oh, that. Just getting some inspiration for a project."  
  
"... A math dress?"  
  
"A math _teacher_ dress. You'd be surprised how popular a fetish teachers are. Have you written one of your 'special' books about teachers yet?"  
  
Shigure laughed. "Not yet. Should I?"  
  
"But of course! Sit, sit. It's been too long since we've talked."  
  
Oh, Ayame was _good._ Maybe this would be okay. Shigure left the window and returned to the inside table.  
  
The two men chatted their way through an afternoon tea. When it became hard to breathe, Yuki gave Kyo a little push. They dared sit up and catch their breath. Yuki rested his head on Kyo's shoulder. Kyo did not push him off.  
  
"Aah," Shigure said at last. "I'd better get going. I've got a book signing in Osaka tomorrow that I still need to pack for."  
  
"Oh, so _soon!_ How will I _ever_ sleep without you, Gure-san?"  
  
Jeez. Yuki could practically hear his brother batting his silver eyelashes.  
  
"Yes, it is indeed tragic. I will miss your touch all night, every night that I am away."  
  
There was laughter. More clinking of dishware. They were almost in the clear, when--  
  
"Aya? Next time you try to hide fugitives, maybe make sure there aren't kid's shoes right next to the front door, yeah?"  
  
The door swung shut. A minute later, the stunned Yuki and Kyo watched the top of Shigure's head as he left the shop and walked briskly away.

* * *

"We should leave," Kyo said, not for the first time that night. He was pacing their room agitatedly. "We should leave _right now."_

They'd been having this same argument all night.

"Ayame said we're safe," Yuki protested stubbornly. "He said Shigure would never, ever tell on us. They've been friends all their lives. Ayame would know!"  
  
Kyo rounded on him, eyes glowing, fangs bared. "Of course your stupid brother thinks that!" he spat irritably. "Nobody wants to think bad stuff about their friends. But do _you_ trust Shigure? Do you really, _really_ trust him?"  
  
Yuki couldn't say anything to that. Kyo snorted, and resumed his pacing.  
  
In the bedroom, they heard Ayame roll over restlessly, the bedsprings creaking under his shifting weight. He hadn't slept well since Mine left for her 'vacation.'  
  
Speaking of which...  
  
"What about Mine?" Yuki asked. "She said to give her three days. And _you_ said she promised to come back. Lets wait for her, at least. Kyo, I don't want to leave if we don't have to!"  
  
"I don't want to leave, either!" Kyo yelled, getting up in Yuki's face. "You don't know how bad it gets, you damn rat! _You_ didn't see Hatori after Akito hurt him. You didn't see his _eye!_ Dripping blood and pus all over the place... What happens the next time he goes too far, huh? Hatori's a big guy. We're just kids! What if he kills one of us, huh?! You don't _know!"_  
  
Yuki didn't often get angry. There was no point to it. If he fought back, he just got hurt worse and worse. But Kyo was starting to irritate him.  
   
"Oh, _I_ don't know what it's like?" he replied, scowling coldly up at the other boy. "Grow up, you stupid cat! You think Akito never hit me? You think my parents never _beat_ me?! I know exactly what it's like! I know what could happen just as much as you do! I just don't want to run off without a plan because you're being a... A scaredy-cat!"  
  
Kyo hissed. Actually _hissed,_ hackles raising high. He was so close now that Yuki shrank back, his momentary boldness evaporating. Was Kyo going to hit him, too?!  
   
Kyo didn't. He didn't touch him at all.

After just a moment, he drew back again.  
  
"Fine," he said, voice clipped in an effort to stay calm. "Then _I'll_ go. I got you this far. You can figure the rest out from here."  
  
Yuki flinched. That wasn't what he'd wanted! "D-don't be stupid," he stuttered, when Kyo went to get his backpack, to fill it up with his clothes. "I don't want you to _go..."_  
  
For one moment, he thought Kyo would ignore him. Would ignore him all the way out the door. But after a moment, those eyes flicked back towards him. Yuki tried to smile encouragingly.  
  
"Who are you going to trust?" Kyo asked. "Me, or Shigure? I'm _telling_ you; we're not safe here anymore."  
  
He believed it, Yuki saw. He meant everything he said. And Kyo had kept him safe this long. When he put it that way, their next move seemed obvious.  
  
"Okay," Yuki agreed mildly. "I guess you're right. I'm picking you."  
  
He made to get up, to pack his own bag, when the landline telephone rang. Once, twice, three times...  
  
Kyo and Yuki exchanged a glance as it rang one more time and went to voicemail. There was a small pause.  
  
"Yuki?" asked a female voice. "Kyo? Boss, if you're listening, _don't_ pick up."  
  
Mine!  
  
"Boys, one of you needs to pick up, okay? Kyo? Yuki?"

Yuki looked at Kyo. Kyo gave a little nod of his head, so Yuki got up and walked to the kitchen, lifting the phone out of its cradle. He'd never used a telephone before-- who would he ever need to call?-- but he'd seen people do it on TV.  
  
"Hello?" he asked, holding the receiver cautiously to his ear.  
  
"Oh, Yuki!" Mine breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad you answered."  
  
It was weird hearing someone's voice without being able to see them. Yuki closed his eyes and pretended the woman was standing right next to him. "Are you okay?" he asked her.  
  
"I am," she replied. "Are you alone?"  
  
"No. Kyo's here."  
  
"Just Kyo?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Okay." She dropped her voice to a whisper, as though telling him a secret. "I've been with my family in Hokkaido."

Hokkaido! Yuki had seen the island on maps before. It was where most of Japan's agriculture and aquaculture came from-- lots of farmland, lots of fishing. He knew these facts about it from reading, but he'd spent all of his life in the same place. Hokkaido might as well be on the moon for a little rat like him.  
  
"What were you doing there?" he asked, and tried not to squeak.

"I've been talking a lot with my parents," she replied. "And, they agree that you need to leave. They say there's room for you both on the family farm. You can be safe here. You can go to school, and grow up, and..."  
  
Yuki's head was spinning. Mine had really done all this for them? Why would her parents agree to take in two strange boys they'd never even met? It was staggering.  
  
Kyo must have seen that Yuki wasn't doing so hot, because he walked over and took the phone from his hand. "This is Kyo," he said, sounding grown up for just a second. "What are you telling him?"  
  
Yuki leaned against Kyo's back, feeling dizzy as he talked to Ayame's loyal girlfriend. Kyo, more experienced and travelled than Yuki, took the news better.  
  
"You're sure? Tomorrow? Tokyo station? What time?"

They talked for a long time. Yuki didn't move once until Kyo started to wrap things up.  
  
"I understand," he told her. "Hey, Mine? Thank you. From both of us."  
  
He hung the phone up quietly; then just stood there for a long time.  
  
"What are we doing now?" Yuki asked.  
  
"Well," Kyo replied, sounding a little stunned. "This time tomorrow, we'll be taking the midnight train to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto. Then we're getting on a boat."  
  
Yuki could think of nothing to say but, "Oh."


	16. Chapter 16

Neither boy was used to sleeping in, but they made an effort that morning, knowing they would be awake all night.  
  
When Yuki slept, he curled into a tiny ball under all the blankets. Kyo wondered how he could breathe like that, but when he pulled the blanket back to look at him, he saw that Yuki was doing just fine.  
  
He shrugged, rolled onto his side, and forced himself to count some sheep until he dozed off for another half hour.  
  
He woke to Ayame puttering arofund in the kitchen, flicking the electric kettle on. He wasn't looking his usual self; he hadn't slept well, and it was obvious in his rumpled hair, the circles under his eyes.  
  
When he saw Kyo watching him, he gave a little smile. "I'm not feeling a big breakfast today," he said, voice croaky. "Care for some toast?"  
  
Kyo nodded.  
  
Minutes later, he was setting the table, nudging Ayame aside to slice fruit at the cutting board. Ayame watched him with a small smile.  
  
"I forget, sometimes, that you didn't grow up in the compound. When I was your age, nobody would have trusted me with a knife."  
  
"I'm thirteen," Kyo pointed out. Most thirteen-year-olds got along okay with basic chores.  
  
"I know. But we weren't... ever allowed to lift a finger for ourselves. It sounds lovely, but it actually did us all a terrible disservice. Did you know Mine had to teach me to do _everything?_ Laundry, chores, cooking, budgeting, how to make my own appointments... An adult shouldn't have to rely on someone else to teach them these things, but what choice did I have?"　

"There's the internet," Kyo pointed out. "There's books."  
  
"Yes, I know that now. But I didn't then. I was... I was quite helpless." Ayame gave a laugh that didn't sound happy, and Kyo wondered if he'd hurt his feelings. Damn it...  
  
"You're doing pretty good now," Kyo said, trying to make it better. "All things considered."  
  
He hoped he and Yuki hadn't messed things up between Ayame and Mine. His father would have said that was just what Kyo did; he ruined life for everyone. His father would have said Kyo should just die and save everyone else the trouble.  
  
"Thank you, Kyonkiichi," Ayame said, springing back into his more upbeat tone, and reached to ruffle Kyo's shaggy orange hair. "You're doing 'pretty good now' yourself; _all things considered."_

Kyo made a face at the teasing, but did not push the hand away; merely set the knife aside and scooped the fruit into a dish. His mom would've added powdered sugar, but Kyo didn't care for things to be too sweet, and he didn't think a snake like Ayame would, either.

They sat together at the table; on tall chairs more western in style than the very Japanese décor of the main house. Kyo wondered if Ayame had done so on purpose; if he wanted his home to be as different from his upbringing as possible.  
  
It made sense that Ayame would be skilled in sewing when he was so behind in everything else. Creating art like that would not be seen as drudgery to the main house; it would have made Ayame seem cultured. It would have given the house bragging points. If he showed interest in an expensive and time-consuming hobby, it would have been supported.

As soon as he turned his hobby into a job, however, it was probably seen as 'common' and looked down upon. What Jyuunishi should have to _work?_ What were they; peasants?! That Ayame even _wanted_ to do it must have filled the compound with dark gossip for weeks.

Sometimes Kyo desperately envied the Jyuunishi for their place in the world; for the fact that they belonged to something bigger, something cohesive and ancient and sacred (even if it _was_ a curse), while he was forever on the outside; not part of the world, but not part of the Sohmas, either. Uniquely isolated.  
  
Other times, he wondered if he wasn't slightly better off than the rest of them, even as they all looked down on and hated him for being 'lower' than their sorry state.

"Having deep thoughts?" Ayame asked, still in that teasing tone of voice. He poured hot water directly from the kettle into two mugs and slid a tub of instant coffee across the table at Kyo.  
  
Toast and fruit and coffee; it wasn't gourmet, but it was fine. Sooner or later, Yuki would stick his twitching nose out of the blankets and wander over for a helping.  
  
Using chopsticks, Kyo poured leftover cold salmon and salty pickles from the night before onto his crunchy bread, folded it in half, and took a big bite. Ayame watched him do it, then copied his actions exactly.  
  
Kyo rolled his eyes again, but couldn't quite quell a smile. "How'd you get Akito to let you move out here on your own?" he asked, chewing. "Did you do something bad, like Shigure, and get kicked out?"  
  
Ayame blinked. "I... No, Kyonkiichi. What Shigure did was something that.... That even I wouldn't have done."  
  
Curiosity welled in Kyo, as did the knowledge that curiosity killed the cat. Both sides warred for so long that Ayame started speaking again.  
  
"It was just a matter of asking for it," Ayame continued, snatching a piece of pickle from Kyo's bowl with his chopsticks. He gestured with it as he spoke.  
  
"You just... Asked. 'Hey Akito; can I move out and have my own business?'"  
  
Ayame's smile turned cagey. "Perhaps it wasn't _so_ easy. It... It helps that I am what I am. I was never a preferred doll of his. I was very often a thorn in his side; getting between him and the ones he loved. I was a distraction for Hatori; a nuisance for Shigure; a bad influence on Kureno. And, of course, the rat was the true prize. He could afford to let the snake wander, so long as my brother stayed by his side."  
  
He spoke so candidly that Kyo winced _for_ him. He knew what it was like to be expendable.   
   
"Don't mistake my lifestyle for one of freedom, Kyo," Ayame added. "I am still very much owned. Much of the money I earn goes directly into Sohma accounts. I am one phone call away at any given time, and Akito knows this. I was unspeakably selfish and cruel to my own brother. I was unspeakably selfish and cruel to a _number_ of people who did not deserve it. I exist in a gilded prison of my own making."  
   
For a moment, Ayame's smile lost all trace of joy. He looked like a skeleton in his own skin; ethereally pale and gaunt. Kyo fought a shiver. How many of Ayame's smiles were a lie hidden under flamboyant behavior and rambling, nonsensical speeches?

Ayame had always been campy and ridiculous. It was just part of his personality. But lately he'd become downright inscrutable. It was nigh impossible to see through his jokes and nonsense to the man underneath... And what if he wanted it to be that way? What was he hiding that was so important to him; something he couldn't even tell his closest friends?  
  
Clever snake.  
  
"Ayame..." Kyo started. "Tonight, we're--"  
  
The blankets on the futon shifted as Yuki sat up with a yawn. "Morning," he mumbled, groggy as could be, rubbing his gray eyes with two little fists. He was speaking more often than he used to, which was probably a good sign. "Is that salmon?"

* * *

Ayame left them be most of the afternoon. It was a Saturday, so the shop was fairly busy. Kyo peeked downstairs at him once or twice, and he was always busy pinning hems, tailoring busts, sweet-talking wealthy customers. With Mine gone, he had twice the work to do.  
  
"Kyo," Yuki called from the bathroom, sounding worried. Kyo peeked through the open door at him.  
  
On the counter sat a stack of money held together with a rubber band.  
  
"Huh," Kyo said, head cocked. "Was that just laying there?"  
  
"Yeah..." Yuki bit his lip. "Think Ayame is just careless and forgot it?"  
  
Kyo thought the snake was anything but careless. Despite the cluttered mess of his home, his actions were carefully calculated.  
  
"Maybe it's for us," Kyo suggested. "Like... Giving us money in a way he can play dumb to. 'Did you give the boys money'? 'No! I just left some laying out and it mysteriously disappeared.'"  
  
Yuki didn't look convinced. "I don't want to steal from him..."  
  
"Fine. Then I'll do it." Feigning nonchalance, Kyo grabbed the stack of money and stuffed it into the pocket of his cargo shorts. He didn't feel good about it, but very soon he and Yuki were going to need all the help they could get.  
  
Yuki looked unsure, but didn't argue. If anything, Kyo glimpsed a flash of relief in his eyes. "We're really leaving tonight, huh?" he asked.  
  
Kyo nodded. "Looks like it."  
  
He was almost as nervous as Yuki looked. He'd never travelled so far before. What if something went wrong? What if Mine's family didn't really want them? What if... What if... _What if..._

He couldn't think about that. He'd go absolutely crazy if he went down that road. This was the option they had. He'd be damned if they didn't take it.

"We should pack, then," Yuki decided. "All our new clothes and stuff."

Kyo nodded. "Shame we can't bring the futon. In case..." _In case the_ _Kuramae family rejects us. In case I have to teach you how to live on the streets, despite your weak lungs._

Maybe it would be easier living on the streets in Hokkaido than it was so close to Tokyo. Maybe there would be charities and shelters and churches. Maybe...

Yuki reached from the bathroom and touched Kyo's arm. "We're together," Yuki said in his soft voice. "Whatever happens, I'm still with you. I pick you. Okay?"

Kyo startled. He'd been secretly thinking that if the Kuramaes took a shine to Yuki, like most people did-- most people preferred the soft-spoken, polite boy to the rowdy mess that was Kyo Sohma-- then maybe he'd say he was just dropping Yuki off, and they didn't have to take the two of them in. They didn't have to be a package deal, if it was easier on them to just shelter the one well-behaved boy.

Kyo didn't need a family; didn't need protection. Not the way Yuki did. He'd be just fine on his own.

After a minute, Kyo shrugged Yuki's hand off. "Come pick out the clothes you want to take," he mumbled, looking away. "Or I'll have to pick them for you, and then you'll hate them."

* * *

Dinner was a quiet affair. Ayame had picked up bowls of tororo soba from a nearby shop. The three cracked their quail eggs into the hot yam noodles and ate, each alone with their own thoughts. Ayame turned the television on for a while and lost himself in the news, slurping softly.  
  
When the shop's buzzer rang, all three jumped.  
  
"The shop is closed," Ayame muttered crossly. "Honestly, the nerve of some people... Can't they read the sign on the window?"

He stuffed another bite of noodles in his mouth. The buzzer sounded again. From far away, far below, Kyo heard a shuffling noise. A sneaky noise, that would have made his cat ears swivel.  
  
"Ayame," he said, immediately on the defensive.  
  
Ayame met his eyes. Swallowed quietly. Whatever it was that had set off Kyo's animal instincts seemed to strike the snake, too.  
  
"Boys?" he said quietly, setting his chopsticks down on their rest. "Go into my room, please."  
  
Yuki froze like a deer in headlights; eyes huge, body stiff. Leaping to his feet, Kyo snatched his hand, dragging him forcefully down the hallway and into Ayame's bedroom, stopping only long enough to grab their backpacks along the way.

He shut the door firmly behind them. After a moment's thought, he shoved a stack of heavy boxes, each large enough to fit himself inside, in front of the door to block it off.  
  
"Kyo..." Yuki whispered, white as a sheet in his panic.  
  
"Shut up. Let me think." Kyo gripped handfuls of his own orange hair, pacing. He crouched and peeked out the window, his insides filling with ice at what he saw: half a dozen men, difficult to distinguish in the dim dusk light, crowded around the base of the fire escape. They held perfectly still, as though _waiting._  
  
"Fuck!" Kyo barked, making Yuki jump.  
  
"What is it?" Yuki squeaked, but Kyo shook his head, pacing faster. Hide Yuki in the closet? No, too obvious. Hide Yuki under the bed? What were they, toddlers playing hide and seek?!

"Akito," Ayame said rather nervously on just the other side of the door. "Have you finally taken me up on my offer to see the shop? Please, if you'll just come downstairs with me, I'll be happy to show you around. Perhaps I could even get you fitted for some formalwear? I've always wanted to make something for you..."  
  
"For once in your worthless life, would you _shut_ your mouth?!" Akito barked. The sound of his raspy voice sent chills crawling up and down Kyo's spine, and that was nothing compared to what it did to Yuki. In just a moment, the rat had gone stiff as a board, shoving his spine into the wall as though trying to disappear. He trembled imperceptively. Tears wavered at his waterline, seconds from spilling over.  
  
Damn, damn, damn, they were trapped; they were _trapped._ The cat spirit that possessed Kyo was going crazy, yowling and scratching, puffed up twice its size with fangs bared.  
  
"Shigure told me you've been harboring fugitives," Akito said, right to the point.  
  
There was a brief pause. _"Shigure_ told--"  
  
Even without being able to see the snake's face, Kyo heard the pain in his voice. He'd truly believed his close friend would never do such a thing; not to _him._

But Kyo had known. Kyo had _known!_ He'd simply thought things would work out; that they had just one more day to make it out.  
  
_Think, stupid cat. Think!_

He could hide Yuki in one of the boxes. Say that Yuki had left them days ago, and now only Kyo stayed in Ayame's clutches. Kyo and Ayame both would be punished severely for letting the precious rat escape, but...  
  
There was a loud thud. The crack of flesh on flesh. A pained grunt. Had Akito just hit Ayame?  
  
"Akito," a male voice protested weakly. Kureno? Was he here, too?  
  
Of course _Shigure_ would be too cowardly to look his friend in the eye after what he'd done. He was probably safe in Osaka at his stupid book signing.  
  
"Don't 'Akito' me! This useless snake _lied_ to me. He stole my greatest treasure from me! Yuki is the only thing that gives me comfort in my suffering."  
  
A thing. That was all anybody saw Yuki as.

Kyo's lip curled. He glanced again at Yuki, who had closed his eyes tight. Dual lines of tears tracked silently down his cheeks.  
  
_Think, stupid cat--!_  
  
It came to him, all at once. He had carried Yuki twice through a window in desperate, last-minute escapes. Both times the goal had been to get Yuki to the ground, but that couldn't be the goal now.  
  
Kyo looked again at the florist shop that was their next door neighbors. Remembered telling Yuki he could make the jump.  
  
Yuki himself would be unable to. Weak and unfit from so much time spent locked away, and without the strength of the cat to give him power, he would never make it. He was too big to be carried...  
  
In _this_ body, anyway. There was another body plenty big and strong enough to carry Yuki anywhere he needed to go.  
  
"Yuki," Kyo hissed through clenched teeth. "I need you to keep your eyes shut, okay? Close them as tight as you can. You're gonna hear and, uh. Smell some scary stuff, but _don't look,_ okay? No matter what. I _promise_ you're safe."  
  
There was a loud crash that made both boys jump. This time, Ayame's cry of pain was unmistakable. It sounded as though he'd been slammed into the kitchen table, sending their dishware flying. Kyo winced. Perhaps he could save him, too...?  
  
No. Much as it hurt, his priority was Yuki. He had to trust Ayame to stand up for himself.  
  
"Kyo?" Yuki asked in a shaking voice; somewhere beyond fear; approaching numbness as they listened to his older brother take a beating just outside the door. "What's gonna happen to me?"  
  
Kyo pushed both of their backpacks into Yuki's arms. "Put those on," he commanded. "And then close your eyes, Yuki; I _mean_ it!"

Yuki obeyed, slinging a bag over each skinny arm before clapping his hands over his eyes.  
  
Kyo felt sick, sick to his stomach. What he was about to do was beyond forbidden; beyond disgusting. What he was about to do was the exact same reason his mother had killed herself. He was defying her last wish; her wish to keep his secret intact, hidden from the world.  
  
_I'm sorry, mom,_ Kyo thought, close to crying himself. Closing his own eyes, he pulled his bracelet off and stuffed it into his pocket.  
  
Becoming the monster was worlds away from letting his cat spirit take control. Becoming the monster was like dying; splitting; rotting from the inside out. In a great gust of trapped, fetid steam-- for he was hot now; boiling hot-- he felt his teenage body double in size, bones snapping and rearranging. His eyes rolled to the sides of his head, slit pupils expanding to take in every tiny fractal of light.  
   
He crouched, hindquarters raised, shirt ripping at the seams. Fangs burst from his mouth; claws from his bony hands as his skin, stretched over an emaciated frame, took on a sickly gray hue. The curse of the cat stank like a thousand corpses. Yuki wretched, doubling over, and made to look at his cousin.  
  
"I said no!" Kyo barked. "Keep your eyes covered, rat." His voice echoed, boomed. In the kitchen, the fight fell silent.  
  
He was a monster. A disgusting, hideous, hated thing. He was something that had once sent Kagura running, screaming, to her mother. He was centuries worth of cursed hatred given form. He was the Sohma family's best kept secret.  
  
He bent and lifted Yuki as easily as though he were a baby, cradling him on the shelf of one hipbone with an elongated arm around his back.  
  
Carrying him to the window, he fumbled at the pane with his claws, nicking and scratching the glass with unbearable squeals. The men below the fire escape looked up, shouting fearfully amongst themselves. "Monster," they screamed in terror. "Monster!"

Hatori was going to have his work cut out with memories to erase after tonight. Kyo ignored them. Focused on getting the window open. Stiffened when he heard the doorknob jiggle just behind him. They didn't have much time left...  
  
Finally the window was sliding open. Finally, Kyo managed to squeeze himself and Yuki out to the fresh night air. Kyo focused his insectoid eyes on the mirrored fire escape on the florist's shop.  
  
"Kyo..." Yuki whispered.  
  
"Hold on," Kyo replied, and leapt.


	17. Chapter 17

Yuki felt a swoop of weightlessness in his stomach, as though he were freefalling through space. He squeezed Kyo tight around the neck and bit the inside of his cheek to keep from screaming.  
  
Kyo felt... Strange. Too big, his skin hot and leathery, his bones moving and shifting in weird places. And he was _strong._ Kyo-the-boy was strong, too, but no more so than any healthy kid. _This_ was something beyond the limits of humanity.  
  
And then there was the smell; the stench of rot, death, decay. Kyo stank with a burning relentlessness that threatened to make Yuki throw up. The way they bounced around was not helping.  
  
But Kyo had promised Yuki was safe, and Yuki had chosen to trust him. He was more frightened than he'd ever been in his young life, and almost as confused, but he didn't think Kyo was lying to him.

When they crashed into the fire escape of the florist's shop, sending dozens of flowerpots crashing to the street below, Yuki kept his eyes shut tight and held onto Kyo's long, snaky neck with all his strength.  
  
Kyo pressed his free hand to the back of Yuki's head, protecting his neck from impact when they rolled. Cripes; his hand was bigger than Yuki's entire head. It was probably bigger than his whole chest! His voice sounded like a rocky landslide; so loud and snarly it made Yuki quake in fear. "You okay, rat?"  
  
"Y-y-yes..."  
  
"I'm gonna need my hands now. Can you hold on?"  
  
"Can I open my eyes?"  
  
"No!"

Kyo shifted, pushing Yuki into a more convenient position on his back. His smell was much stronger here, with Yuki's face hooked over his shoulder, but he had a more secure grip, with his arms around Kyo's neck and his legs clamped around his wasp-like waist.

The way Kyo's bones and muscles shifted underneath Yuki as the monster climbed up from the fire escape, onto the roof was just... _Wrong._ Yuki deeply wanted to open his eyes, but what if whatever he saw was so scary that he let go and fell to his death?

He remembered the cautionary Greek tale of Cupid and Psyche, where young Psyche was forbidden from ever once looking at her husband, Cupid. One night, curiosity got the better of her, and she brought a lamp into their bedroom to peek at his sleeping face.  
  
Cupid had been so upset by his wife's betrayal that he ran away. In typical Greek fashion, she then had to go on a long and horrible journey until she was again worthy to stand by her husband's side.  
  
It wasn't quite the same situation, but Yuki had lived such a sheltered and isolated life that the most experience he had to draw upon was what he read in books, or the stories the Sohma maids told him. Kyo had said not to look, and without Kyo, Yuki would be as lost as Psyche in the underworld.  
   
He kept his eyes shut and clung tight as Kyo climbed. Was it possible that he was possessed by a second spirit, in addition to the little orange cat? If Yuki had to venture a guess, he'd say Kyo might be a dragon, but that didn't add up... _Hatori_ was the dragon...  
  
He yelped when Kyo suddenly dropped a few feet, not so much jumping as falling. Their landing was bumpy, jarring, and inelegant.  
  
"Sorry," Kyo grunted. "Hopped to the next roof over. We're being followed."  
  
"Can you fly?" Yuki asked, thinking of the paintings of dragons and demons and other monsters he'd seen in picture books. He didn't feel any wings sprouting from Kyo's shoulderblades, but maybe...  
  
"Sure, Rat; why didn't I think of that?! I'll just pull an airplane from my pants and _zoom us away!!_ "  
   
Oh, that grumpy sarcasm was definitely Kyo, alright. It made Yuki feel a little better about their situation, knowing his cousin was still himself, even if he wore a different shape.  
  
They crawled and jumped and dropped again and again, seeming to travel a whole block's worth of roofs. Yuki was glad it was getting late; there weren't many people around to see them, and maybe they could hide in the shadows. Maybe. With Kyo being this big, he doubted they could hide _very_ well, but he wasn't hearing more people screaming, so...  
   
At one point Kyo slipped, and Yuki had to fight a scream as they began to fall. There was a great crackling of wood and brick and stone as Kyo dug his massive claws into the side of a building. They slid all the way to ground level, and then Kyo broke into a sprint for several long, silent minutes.  
  
"I'm getting tired, Rat," he panted. "Can't keep going much longer."

Yuki heard traffic not far off. Cars, busses, the blatt of a train... And worse; voices. They were nearing a crowded area. Kyo couldn't be seen like this!  
  
His relief when Kyo ducked into a narrow space and knelt with Yuki in his lap was immense. "Where are we?" Yuki whispered.  
  
"An alley between a Laundromat and a movie theater," Kyo answered, still gasping for breath. "Next to some dumpsters. It's pretty dark, so I think we'll be okay for a while."  
  
Maybe he was getting used to Kyo's smell, because he could detect a hint of garbage and laundry filters underneath the monster's odor.  
  
"Are you gonna turn back?" Yuki asked. "How did you transform? You didn't hug any girls..."  
  
Kyo heaved a deep sigh. "I'll transform back. Just give it a while; it doesn't work as fast as cat to person."  
   
 His heart was loud as a drum against Yuki's ear. It beat so fast, and his skin was so _hot..._

"Have you always been like this?" Yuki asked, filling the silence with his voice.  
  
Kyo stiffened, like even talking about it was forbidden. Like Yuki was supposed to pretend something very strange hadn't happened. Yuki half expected him not to answer, but then he did; his fetid breath filling their small corner.  
  
"I was born this way. I crawled out of my m-mother... looking like this. Akito said Mother screamed, and screamed, and wouldn't _stop_ screaming until her voice gave out. They had to drug her before she popped a vessel, or something."  
   
Such a thing wasn't unusual among the male Jyuunishi. Momiji had been born in his rabbit form, small enough to fit in Hatori's father's palm, fur sticky and red and clinging. His German mother, a stranger in a strange country, an outsider in a family where so few spoke her language, hadn't taken the shock well either.

Thank the gods Haru had arrived as a baby, and not as a calf.

If a tiny baby rabbit had sent the woman spiraling into such deep depression and denial, Yuki tried to imagine what a "monster" must have done to _Kyo's_ mother.  
  
_We're all monsters, don't you know? Kyo just looks like it more than the rest of us._

"Are... Is _every_ cat...?"

"Yes," Kyo said, his voice clipped. "We are."

Yuki knew that tone. It was the same tone his mother used, right before the hitting started. _Stop talking, Yuki. Mommy has a headache._

He stopped talking. He rested his cheek against Kyo's chest, eyes closed, mouth shut, and he waited. In this silence, it was hard not to think about what had just happened; about Ayame's grunts of pain. Was it too much to hope the man had only received a few pushes and slaps, instead of a full-blown beating?

He thought about Hatori's eye...

"Is Ayame gonna be okay?" Yuki asked, voice tiny and scared.  
  
Kyo shifted uncomfortably. Apparently he'd been worried about the same thing. "I don't know," he admitted. "But we can't go back for him. If we ended up getting caught anyway, his pain would be all for nothing."  
  
The answer didn't make Yuki feel much better -- it was the coward's way out, wasn't it? Running while someone else took the fall? -- but he was right. There was no point in all three of them getting hurt. Ayame was a grown-up. Grown-ups were supposed to protect kids... right?

Yuki wasn't sure he deserved protection. What had he ever done to earn someone taking a beating for him? He was just a dumb brat who barely knew how to solve math problems, who always had to be rescued by someone else! He wasn't worth the very air he breathed.  
  
"Kyo?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Why are you helping me? Why are you going to so much trouble? It would have been fine to... To _not_ help. You could've stopped a billion different times. You don't even really like me, do you?"

It was stupid to ask, Yuki knew. Asking questions was what drove Rin's parents crazy; was what made them hurt her so bad she almost died several times over. She _would_ have died, had the Sohma elite not intervened. They couldn't kill the precious horse! Then the Jyuunishi would be incomplete again!  
  
Only Akito had the right to _really_ hurt them.

Again, Kyo stiffened. So did Yuki, anticipating a slap.  
  
No slap came.  
  
"I don't know," Kyo admitted in one long sigh. "I mean... We're cousins, or whatever the hell we are, right?"

Of a sort. The same way all of the thirteen were "cousins." Their family tree was enormous and didn't make much sense. Nobody was the child of anyone else's siblings. Yuki and Ayame were the only two of the twelve who could really be described as "close blood relatives," in that they had the same mother.

Try as he might, Yuki wasn't really sure how _his_ mother was related to _Kyo's_ mother; a woman, an "auntie" Yuki'd never met before she'd taken her own life.  
  
It was easier to use the word 'cousin' to describe each other to outsiders. But to one another, they were just strangers sharing the same curse.

"You didn't have to help," he said again, stating the obvious. "Cousins" meant very little to them, and they both knew it.

"Maybe I just didn't want you to die!" Kyo snapped, back to his old fire. "Maybe I'm not _so_ much of a monster that I think some kid should die just because our family is crazy. Maybe it's cuz something really bad was happening, and nobody was doing a damn thing to stop it. Maybe it's 'cuz I wish someone had helped _me_ when my mother... and my father..."

He gulped for breath, shoulders shaking, and stopped himself cold. After a moment, Yuki realized that it wasn't just Kyo's shoulders shaking, but his whole body. Under his thin leathery skin, his strange bones began to shift.  
  
Oblivious, Kyo continued. "Maybe I wanted to do one good thing with my stupid, useless life before I get locked up forever."  
  
Very carefully, Yuki climbed off Kyo's lap. The transformation was slow; so different from the way Yuki went from boy to rat to boy again, sometimes between heartbeats. Kyo's whole body seemed to be rearranging itself one crunching, popping bone at a time.

It was not a painless process. Kyo was tough, and he was good at keeping his mouth shut, but Yuki heard the shuddery way he was breathing; the way he curled in on himself. Yuki reached to touch his arm, and found it so hot it nearly burned him.

_Hatred burns, and he carries the hatred of our whole family inside himself._

At one point Kyo dry-heaved, close to vomiting, and Yuki again touched him, a hand on his back, rubbing up and down his spine the same way the Sohma maids did for him when he was sick. At least he had cooled off some.  
  
He felt more like a boy now; more Kyo-sized, less monster-sized. His back felt like a normal back.  
  
"Is it okay if I open my eyes now?" Yuki asked.  
  
Kyo nodded, bobbing his head as he gasped and choked. When Yuki nervously lifted his lids, he saw an unsettlingly gray-tinged Kyo; like someone had printed a picture of the boy, but the printer was running out of ink. He was a little too stretched out still; his limbs too long for his clothes, his hands and toes curled and clawed.  
  
Yuki rubbed his back through all of it, then held his shoulders as Kyo sat up and completed his transformation, fumbling in his pocket for his bracelet, which he dragged onto his wrist immediately. After that, his color went back to normal.

He looked like himself again, though clearly exhausted with his clothes all stretched out and ruined.

His eyes, though; they were an interesting shade of violet Yuki hadn't seen before. They looked like dusk over an empty city, his pupils so blown out they almost looked round.  
  
Kyo had always had interesting eyes. They were sunset-colored, with vertical pupils. So strange, in fact, that Yuki truly wondered how the boy went out and about without drawing attention. Ayame was an eccentric fashion designer; he could get away with looking strange, and people would think it was just clever makeup and wigs and contacts. But a young teenager?

_People see what they want to see._

"Kyo?" Yuki said solemnly, looking into those strange eyes. He gripped both of his cousin's shoulders until Kyo's gaze focused on him.  
  
Yuki felt a little shy, a little clumsy, but it was important that this be said right now. He cleared his throat and tried his best. "Nobody is _ever_ gonna lock you up," he promised fiercely. "Because I won't let them."  
  
It wasn't a very impressive promise. Yuki was weak, physically and mentally. How could he prevent _anything_ from happening? But he was determined, and he hoped that would shine through his words, his expression.  
  
"Whatever it takes," he continued, when Kyo said nothing. "I'm with you. I picked you. We're family for real now. If someone tries to take you anywhere, they'll have to take me, too."  
  
Kyo stayed quiet for so long that Yuki began to feel nervous. Had he overstepped their tentative, unspoken boundaries? Was Kyo mad at him now?  
  
To his shock, Kyo gave a tired grin, a small fang popping over his lip. "You telling me I can't get rid of you?"  
  
He was joking! Teasing! Yuki was better now at telling teasing jibes apart from seriousness. He planted both hands on his hips and glared. _"Yes,_ you stupid cat. You're stuck with me, so you might as well like it!"

Kyo's smile grew. Then, in a burst of orange smoke, he was gone. A cat lay in his place, sprawled out in their dirty alley from pure exhaustion and strain.  
  
Yuki pocketed Kyo's bracelet. He gathered the boy's ruined clothes up, emptied the pockets, and threw the clothes into the dumpster.

He opened his backpack and drew out the oversized gray hoodie Kyo had purchased and put it on, wearing it like a poncho with the sleeves dangling empty. He put on socks and shoes, too, as he hadn't been wearing any when they left Ayame's home. Then he picked the cat up, holding him against his chest beneath the fabric.  
  
With new determination and a strength he'd never before felt, Yuki left the alley, carrying their backpacks in addition to his unconscious cousin.  
  
They had a midnight train to catch.


	18. Chapter 18

Kyo came to in a soft, dark place with somebody else's heartbeat in his ears.  
  
His sensitive, pointy ears.  
  
He sighed. This wasn't the first time he'd woken in his cat body, but it was always disconcerting, facing the world without any thumbs. The arm around his body shifted, and he felt a momentary surge of panic. Who was holding him?!  
  
He shifted and squirmed until a gentle hand pressed to the back of his head, stroking his ears. He recognized that scent. _Yuki._

Relaxing marginally, he pushed upwards until his head popped through the collar of the hoodie Yuki was wearing, ears pinned flat under his cousin's jaw, and had a look around.  
  
They were in the backseat of a car. A small, junky car with tons of trash strewn around. Everything smelled like tomatoes and onions.  
  
Kyo looked at the driver and saw a stranger; a skinny old man in a red uniform. Atop his head, he wore a hat with the name of a pizza restaurant embroidered on it in white kanji. Was this a delivery boy's car? Were they _hitchhiking?!_

He made a startled little mew. Since when did naïve, sheltered Prince Yuki know how to hitchhike?  _  
_

Yuki pushed down on the top of Kyo's head, forcing him back into his hoodie, folding his arms tight around him. Apparently he didn't want the driver to know he was carrying a cat.  
  
Kyo gave Yuki's hand a punishing chomp between his pointy little teeth. Not hard enough to break the skin, but hard enough to sting; to get his point across. Yuki's leg twitched in response.

The driver spoke in a raspy smoker's voice. "Are you sure you're okay, kid?" he asked gruffly. No doubt a young boy travelling alone this late at night, carrying two backpacks, looked like a runaway to him.

Well, they _were_ runaways, weren't they? Kyo just hoped this guy didn't get the bright idea to take them to the police instead of Tokyo Station.  
   
"I'm just fine, sir," Yuki said in his calm, polite voice; the voice that adults must think was so mature, so grown-up from somebody so young. "We-- I mean, _I--_ am just going to my dad's house. We could only afford the late night tickets, see, and..."  
  
It wasn't a bad cover story, really, but there was no telling whether the stranger believed him.  
  
They drove in silence for what felt like _forever._ Kyo was starting to get seriously impatient -- not to mention hot and thirsty -- trapped under Yuki's hoodie like this, when they entered into some nasty start-and-stop traffic.  
  
Great. Now he was carsick on top of everything else.  
  
Somehow, they eventually made it to a parking space without Kyo vomiting down Yuki's pants, or something equally charming. The car stopped moving. They sat in silence for a minute.

"Look," the old man said, finally. "I don't have much money, but I can--"  
  
"Oh, no sir, thank you sir!" Yuki squeaked, his heart giving a loud thud. "I promise, my brother gave me enough money to get to our dad just fine. Please, you've helped me so much already..."  
  
Ah, so he hadn't believed the lie about the dad. He really did think Yuki was just a homeless boy, running for God knew what reason. Sometimes, it surprised Kyo to learn there were genuinely kind people outside of the Sohma compound. People who would help a stranger for no reason other than kindness.

Then he thought of Haru. Of Momiji and Rin and Ayame. Maybe there were genuinely kind people _inside_ the compound, too.

There was another pause. Then the delivery man heaved a deep sigh. "Alright, kid. Be safe out there, then."

"I will, sir. Thank you."  
  
Yuki gathered up their bags from the footwell and, still holding Kyo to his chest, opened the door and struggled to climb out.  
  
"Oh!" the delivery man said in realization. "I can give you this..."  
  
He held something out to Yuki. Yuki had no choice but to let go of Kyo to take it, who dug his claws into Yuki's shirt to keep from falling.  
  
"Oh!" Yuki said in surprise. "Thank you."

"It's nothing. Damn prank calls... I woud've just had to throw it away anyway."  
  
"Drive safe, sir."  
  
"I will, kid."  
  
Yuki closed the car door and started walking.  
  
"What'd he give you?" Kyo asked curiously.  
  
"A pizza," Yuki replied, speaking quietly. It didn't sound like a lot of people were around, but Yuki probably didn't want to be seen as a boy who apparently spoke to his own nipples. "I've never had pizza before..."

"What!" Kyo meowed in shock, though of course it wasn't _very_ surprising. Yuki no doubt only ate what the Sohma maids fed him. "Find somewhere to sit. We need to fix this immediately."

He retracted his claws and squirmed out through the bottom of Yuki's hoodie, walking alongside him until they spotted a stone bench along the street curb. His whole body was achy and sore, and he had trouble hopping onto the bench when Yuki sat, but he managed, curling his tail tidily around his paws.  
  
Yuki set their bags down and sat with his legs to his chest, turning to face Kyo, prying the box open between them. It was a small pizza-- a personal one, meant for only one person. Kyo wondered if the delivery man had been lying; if he'd been intending to eat the pizza himself, rather than having a leftover from a prank call.  
  
He purred in delight when he saw it was a seafood pizza; his favorite kind; covered in salmon and shrimp and squid.

With careful fingers, Yuki picked some of the toppings away from the cheese and set them on the cardboard lid for Kyo to eat. Then he lifted a steaming triangular piece and, frowning at it, took a cautious bite from the tip.  
   
Kyo watched him eagerly, ears pricked, and when Yuki's eyes widened in pleased surprise at the taste, he wished he had the lips to smile. It was sort of fun, seeing sheltered Yuki experience good things for the first time.  
  
Yuki took another bite; this one much bigger than the last. "It'sh _good!"_ he exclaimed, mouth full.  
  
"Told you," Kyo preened smugly, and bent to nibble some salmon, realizing too late that he was purring so loudly his whole body vibrated. He forced himself to stop, embarrassed, but Yuki didn't seem to notice.

The two of them made short work of the pizza. They hadn't had much dinner before they were interrupted by Akito's arrival, the fact that they were teenage boys, and all their running around had worked up an apetite.  
  
When the box had been picked clean, Kyo sat back on his haunches and cleaned sauce off his whiskers. "What's our plan?"  
  
"Well, we're pretty close to Tokyo Station. I had Mr. Kobayashi drop us off just a block away, so he wouldn't have to deal with all the traffic around there."

He looked at Kyo anxiously, as though wanting confirmation that this was the right thing to do. "Not bad, Rat," Kyo complimented. Considering Yuki had never come up with the plans before, he was doing pretty well.  
  
Brightening, Yuki continued. "Our train doesn't leave until a quarter to one. Mine already bought our tickets; we just have to pick them up at will-call."  
  
"What time is it now?" Kyo asked. He could have been unconscious for an hour or a day, for all he knew.  
  
"It was just past ten when we left the car."  
  
Oh. They were making good time, then. It kinda felt like this night had lasted forever. Kyo would be glad when it was over.  
  
"How are you feeling?" Yuki asked him. A couple of drunken businessmen, leaving a bar, approaching the station, walking past their bench gave Yuki a funny look, no doubt wondering why this homeless-looking kid was talking to a stray cat. Kyo waited until they were out of earshot before answering.  
  
"I sort of feel like I was beat up with a baseball bat, but I'll live. You?"  
  
"Pretty good, actually. I'm kind of excited. Is that weird?"  
  
It wasn't weird. Unexpected, maybe. Kyo would have expected Yuki to be scared, so far from home, doing something so against the rules with no guarantee of success. But he was glad Yuki wasn't scared.  
  
"You're okay," he reassured. "Do we have any water?"  
  
It turned out they _had_ packed a few bottles, but no bowl for an animal to drink from. Yuki awkwardly held small amounts in his cupped hands for Kyo to lap from.  
  
When Kyo was satisfied, Yuki dried his palms on his pants and sat back on the bench. "Can we stay here for a while?"  
  
"If you promise not to fall asleep. I'm really tired," Kyo warned.  
  
"That's okay. I'm wide awake. You can sleep." Yuki patted his lap. Understanding what he was offering, Kyo again felt a little shy. Since when had he ever trusted someone to watch him while he slept?  
  
Well, he'd trusted Rin to keep watch a couple times, he supposed, but this was different.  
   
Still, the fact was, he _did_ trust Yuki. And he _was_ tired; deep down exhausted to his little cat bones. With a yawn, he walked around the pizza box and into Yuki's lap, nestling into the soft fuzz of his hoodie.  
  
Tentatively, Yuki put a hand on his back, then moved it up to Kyo's head, scratching gently behind his ears. He felt calm. He felt _safe._  
  
_I'm purring again,_ Kyo realized, and waited for the shame to come.  
  
It didn't have the chance to. Sleep came first.

* * *

He woke again, just barely, when Yuki stood up, trying to lift him gently.  
  
"I can walk," he slurred.  
  
"You don't have to," Yuki replied. "You've done a lot today. I've got it for a little while."  
  
"Mm," Kyo mumbled, and leaned his head on Yuki's shoulder.

* * *

 

The next time he woke, he was again hidden under Yuki's hoodie. The noise and bustle around them was pretty loud; Kyo estimated dozens of people milling this way and that; mostly -- if not all -- adults.  
  
He heard a train in the distance, and understood they were in Tokyo Station at last.  
  
He wondered, for a moment, what had woken him. The answer came to him pretty quickly; it was Yuki's heart. The steady beat had picked up to an anxious thrum. What was bothering him?  
  
He pricked his ears, trying to understand, and gradually zeroed in on a nearby man's voice.  
  
"-- your name, sweetheart?" the man asked, sounding like he was standing just behind them. "What's a pretty little girl like you doing all alone?"  
  
_Girl?_ Many of the Sohmas were a little androgynous, Kyo supposed -- just part of their ethereal beauty -- but...  
  
Then what the man had said properly registered, and Kyo understood. His fur bristled. His claws extended.  
  
"Please leave me alone," Yuki whispered. "I'm not interested."  
  
"Aw, come on, baby," the man wheedled, putting a hand on Yuki's shoulder. "Why don't you come hang out with me for a while? I'll make sure you get wherever you're going _safe and sound..._ "

Yuki's heart beat louder, faster. He seemed frozen, unable to say a word. He smelled terrified.  
  
Bursting up from the neck, Kyo yowled like a demon and raked his claws across the man's unshaven face, gouging his cheek and lip deep enough that the smell of blood filled the air.  
  
The man reeled, clapping a hand to his skin, crying out in alarm. "What the hell?!"

Kyo hissed, fur bristled until he puffed twice his size, fangs bared. If the man came near them again, he'd go for his eyes next.  
  
"You're _crazy!"_ the man exclaimed, taking quick steps back. A second later, he turned and ran into the crowded station. A couple bums sitting with together with their backs to the wall laughed and clapped at the show.  
  
"You okay, kid?" one called to Yuki. Yuki didn't answer. "That's some cat!"  
  
There was skin trapped between Kyo's claws. He'd really messed that guy's face up. He tried to subtly wipe it away before Yuki saw, but it didn't matter. Yuki was only looking down at his lap, a miserable expression on his face. He tried to hunch in on himself, hanging his head.  
  
Alarmed, Kyo squirmed back into his lap, looking up at his face. He didn't dare speak with so many people all over the place, but he tried to communicate with his eyes.  
  
Yuki shut his eyes so he didn't have to look at Kyo.  
  
Frustrated, Kyo nipped the tip of his nose. Yuki didn't react.  
   
Kyo hunched up like a loaf of bread in Yuki's lap, this time hypervigilant, scowling at anyone and everyone who passed them by. _Nobody_ would approach Yuki again without Kyo knowing.  
  
After a while, the terrified smell faded to plain anxiety. Yuki's heartbeat evened out. Kyo didn't relax, but he did _feel_ better, especially when Yuki started petting him again.  
  
They sat in silence, listening to the station announcements; the whoosh of trains coming and going; passengers arriving and departing.  
  
It wasn't the busiest Tokyo Station ever got. Far from it; it was midnight on a Sunday. Many business people and office workers had the day off, but plenty more didn't. In a place as populated as this, there was always _some_ action.  
  
Yuki didn't immediately react when the calm female voice over the station's loudspeaker announced their train information; not until Kyo stood up and stretched, toes flexing. Then he looked around as though coming out of a daze.  
  
Kyo allowed himself to be stuffed back under Yuki's hoodie as the boy hurried toward the loading station, already milling with people. There was a big commotion as people lined up; as compressed doors slid open; as tickets were checked. Kyo grew annoyed with all the jostling and bumping as Yuki, a petite boy, was knocked around by purses and briefcases.  
  
Hell. If _he_ was growing uncomfortable; overwhelmed; then how must someone like Yuki, so used to the unchanging quiet and serenity of the Sohma compound, feel? No wonder his heart was starting to go crazy again.

It was a relief to them both when they found a seat and hunched down, and it hit Kyo that he'd be stuck under Yuki's hoodie for over four hours, travelling all the way to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto.

He was still so bone-tired and sore that he doubted he'd transform back to human any time soon, but still. That was a long time to be crunched into one dark space, especially for a cat who didn't like to be confined.  
  
Well, there was nothing else for it. They had to get to the Northernmost part of Japan's mainland before six that morning, and this was their best shot at it. Anything was better than what they were leaving behind. Kyo couldn't ruin things now just because he was a little cramped.  
  
He settled down as much as he could, rested his chin on his paws, and prepared himself for the longest, farthest train ride of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I Google "most common pizza toppings in Japan" while writing this? [You bet I did.](https://www.quora.com/What-variety-of-pizza-is-the-most-popular-in-Japan)


	19. Chapter 19

Hatori filled a bag with ice, picking each cube from a tray, dropping them one at a time into the plastic.  
  
When the tray was empty, he zipped the bag shut, refilled the tray at his kitchen sink, and slid it back into his freezer. He'd definitely need more ice later.  
  
He wrapped the ice pack in a cloth and then carried it into his dark bedroom, where a long shape lay on its side in his bed.  
  
"Aya," Hatori said softly, and reached to touch his friend's shoulder.  
  
The snake stirred with a little hiss, one golden eye opening to focus on him. His other eye -- his left eye, because Akito was right-handed -- was still swollen shut; his entire face mottled purple with bruises.  
  
Hatori gently pressed the ice pack to Ayame's face. "You can have more pain medication in an hour," he informed his friend, wishing he didn't feel so helpless. Ayame had only recieved a moderate beating. Nothing was broken. Nothing was irreparably damaged. He should consider himself lucky.  
  
So why did Hatori feel so down, so low? Why did it feel like something terrible had happened? Wasn't it their God's right to treat them as She saw fit?  
  
"Thank you, Tori-san," Ayame murmured through swollen lips, taking the ice pack, laying back down with the bundle over his eye. "You _are_ a comfort."  
  
"It's my job."  
  
"Liar. You know you love me."

Hatori sat on the edge of his bed, reaching a hand out, and then hesitated. After a moment, he gathered up the courage to stroke Ayame's long, silvery-white hair. Even after a wash, it was still stained with blood from his nose and mouth. Hopefully another wash would clean it out for good.  
  
"Is there anything I can do for you?" Hatori asked. He'd already done everything he could think of; giving him a wash, dressing him in his own pajamas, feeding him, dressing his wounds, medicating him. The only thing that would help him now was time.  
  
"Just stay with me, old friend. Your company is worth its weight in silver."  
  
"Not gold?"  
  
"Silver is more fashionable this season. And it looks nicer with my complexion."  
  
Hatori smiled and climbed into bed next to Ayame, like he'd done a thousand times when they were teenagers, like he'd done when they were more than friends.  
  
Ayame sighed and shifted closer, allowing the doctor's long fingers to continue combing through his hair.  
  
"What happened, Aya?" he asked gently. He knew it had something to do with the two missing boys, but that was as far as anyone had told him.  
  
He thought of the bloody footprint he'd cleaned from behind his house, and felt another pang of guilt.  
  
_Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive..._

"Do you really want to know?" Ayame asked.  
  
"Do I?" Hatori returned. He'd leve it up to the snake to decide whether he wanted to tell, and how much.  
  
Ayame emitted a long, deep sigh, and scooted closer. Hatori put an arm around him, allowing Ayame to become comfortable on his chest. There was nothing romantic or sexual between them, not anymore, and not just because they'd both fallen in love with other people. It was simply something that had come and gone like the ocean's tide.  
  
But Ayame was right. Hatori _did_ love the man, and just because it wasn't sexual anymore didn't make it any less true. It hurt to see Ayame in pain. It hurt to see Ayame crushed down and depressed.  
  
_I wish I could have protected you,_ he thought, and repressed a shudder when he realized Kana had said nearly the exact same thing to him, once.  
  
"It's bad, Tori," Ayame admitted, and there was no merriment, no comedic exaggeration, in his voice. "It was Shigure."  
  
"Shigure?" Hatori asked, startled. The third member of their trio could be a manipulative bastard, sure, but what did he have to do with this?  
  
"Yes." Ayame tried to make his voice sound strong; tried to force a smile, but he was too tired, and Hatori knew him too well, to believe it for a second. "He, ah, he rather broke my heart, if you must know."  
  
Hatori held still and silent, continuing to stroke Ayame's hair as the full story was laid out before him, piece by twisted piece.  
  
By the end, Ayame was crying, though they both pretended he wasn't. Hatori felt hot tears soak into the shoulder of his shirt.  
  
"Oh, Aya," he sighed.  
  
So they had both betrayed Akito, then. So many of them had, hadn't they? Hatori, Ayame, Hatsuharu, Isuzu, Kyo... What did it mean, that all of them were complicit in this deception? What was it about Yuki's situation that sparked such unprecedented rebellion?  
  
It was good not to be alone in his treachery, in a strange and forbidden and thrilling way. It felt like change. It felt like something new was starting to bloom. It felt like snow, just beginning to melt.

"How did they get away?"

"He -- Kyo, I mean -- became _it."_

Hatori blinked blankly. It? What was 'it'?  
  
Ayame stared eagerly into Hatori's face, willing him to understand. Both men, the dragon and the snake, had excellent low-light vision. Hatori didn't need his lamp to see Ayame's impatience. Ayame often exaggerated and made up wild, fanciful stories, but he seemed pretty adamant about this. What could Kyo have become...

Oh.  
  
_Oh._

Hatori had seen 'it' once, when he was just thirteen. He'd stood by his father's side as baby Kyo was delivered. Any pregnant Sohma, or wife of a Sohma, was always kept under close surveillance. If one went into labor before they were due, Hatori's father was always the one to deliver said baby in case it turned out to be a member of the Jyuunishi. As the future medic of the Sohma family, Hatori had to accompany him.

That was how they worked. Their roles were already chosen; set up. All they had to do was be born and fill them. Personal choice had never been a factor.  
   
Not so much anymore, of course; not since Kisa was born. Their circle was now complete-- their banquet was full. But when Hatori was a youth, there had been many such births. One of his oldest, dimmest memories was of holding a flopping, featherless, wet baby sparrow in his cupped hands, watching his father clean blood and amniotic fluid off of Kureno's mother's stomach and thighs.

But Kyo; he would never forget Kyo. He'd been all claws and fangs and unnatural, overlong limbs, the smell of rot overflowing their sterile delivery room long before violet eyes on a pointy-faced _horror_ forced its way out of his mother's womb.  
   
Hatori, taught to be stoic, to never emote excessively, had not screamed, but he'd _felt_ the scream trapped like a bubble somewhere in his chest, choking him, making it impossible to move. The spirit, the curse of the cat, had been too terrible for his young mind to completely comprehend.

What they never talked about was how the delivery had nearly killed Kyo's mother. How it had split her. How stitches and blood transfusions had been required, and then months of sedatives fading into antidepressants.  
  
It was no secret that her husband physically and verbally abused her and her son, but Hatori's father hadn't known until it was too late that she'd stopped taking her medication, also. If anyone had been paying even a tiny bit of attention, they would have seen the signs long before it happened.  
  
Hatori had been eighteen, a newly made orphan, when he'd signed off on the coroner's report for Jitsuko Sohma's suicide. Six-year-old Kyo had only stood by blankly while his mother was loaded onto a stretcher. Hatori had felt almost as numb as the child looked.

That Kyo was even functioning now was a miracle in itself. So many of the Sohma weren't. Hatori himself sometimes grew so depressed he could scarcely get out of bed, save for when he was needed by Akito.  
  
_We're all broken. This life we live is killing us all. Help, help. Someone, please save us..._

"So, he transformed into his alternate form?" Hatori asked Ayame, who nodded, his good eye bright with the excitement of a truly spectacular story.  
  
"He did! He carried Yuki right out the window; right onto the roof of that little florist's shop next door! Off they disappeared into the night... Cest magnifique!"   
  
Hatori didn't know about 'magnifique,' but it was certainly unexpected. 

Kyo had been taught to hate and fear that side of himself. To deliberately use it in this circumstance...

Well. Hatori was impressed. Maybe they all had underestimated the young cat.  
  
"Any idea where they went?"  
  
"Nope. They were tracked for a while, but were lost somewhere between rooftops. Akito has drivers stationed at every bus stop in the city, but..." Ayame shrugs. He doesn't even bother to hide his smile, swollen as his mouth may be.  
  
Hatori smiles too, but only on the inside. If the boys were going to turn up at a bus stop, they would already have done it. It looked like they might really pull this off.  
  
He didn't say what he knew they both were thinking -- that the boys would have to get out of the city if they wanted freedom. If he said it out loud, he might have to say it to Akito. The longer the train stations remained unspoken, the longer a gap there was, the more miles the boys could put between themselves and the Sohma compound.  
  
The world was a big place. It could be easy to get lost in, if one was truly determined.  
  
The next time Hatori had a beer, he'd say a toast to the two. Only in his head, only to himself, but he'd say it just the same. Through their determined escape, they'd brought the fresh breath of something none of the other Sohmas had felt in years upon years.  
  
They had brought hope.


	20. Chapter 20

They made it three quarters of an hour before Yuki knew he couldn't keep Kyo under his shirt much longer. It was hot and stuffy, and he could feel the cat panting against his belly. Kyo wasn't the type to complain, but could he even breathe in there?  
  
Grateful he'd been able to store one of the backpacks while keeping the other, he stood, kept an arm around his belly for support, and walked to the end of the carriage for the little single-use bathroom.  
  
He set Kyo into the sink, and sat himself down on the closed lid of the toilet, feeling the train rock around them. The two Sohmas regarded each other quietly.  
  
"Think you're gonna switch back soon?" Yuki asked. "I picked up your train ticket, just in case you needed it later."  
  
"I don't know," Kyo answered honestly. "Probably. I'm all pins and needles right now; let me stretch out.  
  
He did just that, taking those long languid stretches all cats do, butt in the air, tail puffed. He yawned hugely and pawed at the sink tap until Yuki got up to turn it on, and then he drank directly from the faucet, nose and whiskers twitching.  
  
Maybe it was the cold water that revived him, because in a sudden burst of orange smoke, he transformed.  
  
Yuki grabbed him under the freckly armpits and dragged him off the sink before he broke it, then turned away and dug through his backpack, finding clothes and shoes for Kyo to wear, handing them over behind his back.  
  
"Do you feel okay?" he asked.  
  
"I'll be fine," Kyo replied, stepping into his pants. "Can I have my ticket?"  
  
Yuki handed it over, too. Kyo pocketed it. He waited for Kyo to finish dressing before they returned to their seats.

If he was worried someone might question why one chubby boy went into the bathroom and returned as two thin boys, he needn't have. Everyone on the train was too busy with their own problems to pay them any attention. He was just glad nobody had stolen his seat while he was gone.  
  
He and Kyo squished onto the same seat. Kyo fished around in their backpack until he found a granola bar he could eat.

They'd split their food, water, and money between both bags in case one of them got robbed, or they were split up. That was fine, but Yuki had accidentally stored the backpack with all the snack food, and all this one held were things like instant noodles; things that needed hot water before they were edible.  
  
Kyo ate the bar, then settled with his head on Yuki's shoulder. "Tired," he complained.  
  
"You can sleep," Yuki answered. "I'll keep watch."

Kyo's sunset eyes flicked to Yuki's face, assessing him. Maybe he was checking to see if Yuki was serious, or capable.  
  
"I'm wide awake," Yuki promised, which was true. He'd never felt more alert in his life. "If anything happens, I'll wake you."  
  
Kyo hesitated another minute, then succumbed, shifting so he was more comfortable against Yuki's side, then shutting his eyes. Within minutes he'd gone limp and heavy, breathing slowly on Yuki's arm despite the bouncing and jouncing of the train; the noise and chatter of the other passengers.  
  
Yuki, not wanting to disturb his cousin, tried to hold still, looking around with his eyes at everything; at the passing landscape outside the windows; at the other passengers. He'd never in his life been anywhere so busy; so different. It was hard not to stare at every little strange thing.  
  
Just across from them, a businesswoman in a smart suit sat with a toddler in her lap and a travel thermos of coffee in her hand. She was reading a newspaper. Every time she nudged her daughter, the little girl dutifully turned the pages for her, and the businesswoman kissed the top of her head. They must do this every day, to have the routine down so well.  
  
Yuki watched them for a few minutes until the businesswoman looked up and smiled at him. Blushing, Yuki stared down at his lap instead, scuffing his feet.

A particularly intense jostle of the train had Kyo squashing Yuki flat against the hard plastic armrest, and he quickly had to rearrange both their bodies, tucking an arm around Kyo's shoulders as he did. Man; the poor cat must have been exhausted. He was _out.  
  
_Yuki picked up Kyo's hand, which had been flung across their lap. He studied his bracelet with new interest, now that he knew what it was; what it was for. The beads made of human bone clattered softly on their leather string when he tilted Kyo's hand, then carefully set it back in Kyo's lap.  
  
What had happened the night before was very strange. What he'd learned about Kyo was more than a little intimidating. But he didn't feel like a monster; not like this, not pressed up, sleeping, against Yuki's shoulder.  
  
Even when he _had_ felt like a monster, with overheated, stinking, leathery skin, he'd still been protecting Yuki, hadn't he?  
  
So it was a little scary. So what? It was Kyo. Yuki trusted Kyo. Kyo had done more to help and protect him than anyone else in the world. Yuki would return the favor. If any Sohmas returned to lock the monster away, to trap him forever, well...  
  
Yuki just would not let that happen. He'd chosen his side, in a fight where before there had been no sides except Akito's. The two of them had _made_ a side.  
  
Yuki gazed out the window, and marveled at how big the world was; how full of people and potential. A world where neither he nor Kyo would _ever_ be locked away again.  
  
Kyo woke after a two-hour nap, stretching and yawning, standing up to stretch his legs. They both pretended he hadn't drooled on Yuki's shoulder.  
  
Yuki uncapped a water bottle from their bag and passed it over. Kyo drained half, then handed it back for Yuki to finish the rest.  
  
He walked off to the bathroom, and when he came back, Yuki rose for a turn, rinsing his face off at the sink. When he caught sight of himself in the mirror, he stopped, looking into his own eyes. He didn't look much different than he always looked, but there was something in his eyes -- some light that hadn't been there before. Was it hope? Strength? Determination?   
  
Whatever it was, he liked it.  
  
He returned to Kyo and sat, grinning when Kyo threw an arm around his shoulders, dragging Yuki down onto his shoulder. "Nap," Kyo said bossily. "'Cuz the boat's gonna freak me out, so I need you to be okay."  
  
Yuki nodded, though he didn't know how well either of them would fare on a boat. He'd never been on one before, after all. Still, he closed his eyes, breathing in Kyo's comforting scent, and allowed himself to drift off.  
  
He woke, groggy and disoriented, the salt smell of the ocean surrounding them when Kyo gave him a nudge in the ribs; a robotic female's voice chiming in his ears.   
  
"Now arriving in Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto..."  
  
Against his side, Kyo gave an excited little shimmy.


	21. Chapter 21

Kyo had been picturing a big, scary boat, maybe something like a pirate ship, when he heard they'd have to cross a body of water. Much to his surprise -- and perhaps, disappointment -- there was only a ferry used to cross the Tsugaru Strait.

Well. It was still a _big_ ferry, at least. The Blue Mermaid was a double-decker that could hold at least a thousand passengers and made eight round-trips across the strait every day, though on this foggy morning, it wasn't quite so busy.

"Back in the fifties," Yuki informed Kyo as they boarded the vessel together. "A ferry sank and tons of people died. I read about it in 'A Tourist's History of Japan.'"

Kyo's stomach knotted at the thought of travelling across water that people had died in, though he supposed _someone_ had died in all the waters of the world. "Did you really have to tell me that, Rat?"  
  
"Sorry. I'm nervous, too. It was a long time ago. We'll be okay."  
  
They'd better be okay. They'd be stuck on this thing for hours. Kyo thought he might like travelling more if there wasn't such a sense of rush and anxiety behind everything they did; a fear they were being followed, or they'd be discovered, or questioned by police, or...

"Wow!" Yuki exclaimed as they followed the crowd into the passenger area, which was carpeted with overhead lighting, tables, and a breakfast station. "I didn't know it would be so fancy."  
  
Neither had Kyo. Since he'd been picturing a pirate ship, he'd expected rats and cockroaches, not soft chairs and a sign pointing to beds where they could lay down if they wanted.

He wanted to laugh at himself for being so goofy, but at the same time, he'd had almost as sheltered a life as Yuki. No, he hadn't been trapped in the same black room all the time, but he'd still been confined within the reach of the Sohma. This was an adventure for him, too.

Yuki's nose twitched at the scent of grilled horse mackerel. The smell was making Kyo's stomach growl, too; infinitely more appealing than what they'd packed in their bags.  
  
"Do you want to get breakfast?" Kyo asked, glancing at the menu on the wall. "It's not _too_ expensive... We can even split a plate and come back for seconds."  
  
Yuki brightened enormously. It was funny how much he looked like... Well, like a real person when he smiled, instead of just a doll, or a figure in a family fairy tale. More and more, he was becoming real in Kyo's head. Not a rat to be hated, but just another kid.  
  
They got in line, and ferry employees filled their plate with rice and mackerel and pickled vegetables. Yuki took a bowl of natto (a smelly, slimy food Yuki was, for reasons Kyo could never understand, very fond of). Kyo chose a bowl of miso soup instead. They brought their single plate and sets of chopsticks to a table by a wide window to eat.

"I've never..." Yuki squirmed, then cut himself off. "Never mind."  
  
"No, tell me," Kyo lightly kicked his leg. "You've never what?"  
  
"I never had enough to eat before." Yuki's face reddened.   
   
That was surprising to hear. Yuki had Sohma money, and the attention of the maids. Wouldn't he have anything he wanted? Why would Akito deny him food?  
  
Why did Akito do anything? He was crazy, that's why.  
  
"Well," Kyo admitted gruffly. "Me neither. So."  
  
"Yeah..." They both looked awkwardly out the window, watching people in the lower deck bustling around.

Hoping that things might get better was a scary feeling. Hope in general was scary. It could be so easily crushed, and it would hurt all the more for having it in the first place.  
  
"What do you think Mine's family is like?"  
  
Kyo shrugged. He knew the stereotypes of farmers from Hokkaido, but the rumors were kind of mean and probably not true. "Mine trusts them, so they're probably nice."

"It might be dangerous if there are a lot of girls," Yuki fussed, picking at his vegetables.  
  
"Mine probably told them about us." It made Kyo uncomfortable, thinking of his biggest secret out to people he didn't even know, but there was no reason she wouldn't tell him. Nobody had ever told her not to.  
  
"Did they believe her?"  
  
"Who knows..."  
  
Kyo didn't tell Yuki his secret; that if the Kuramae family wasn't as welcoming as Mine acted like they'd be, then Kyo would leave. Surely the family could tolerate a sweet, quiet boy like Yuki more than they'd want someone like Kyo disrupting things. One extra mouth to feed was easier than two.  
  
Where he would go, he wasn't sure. Maybe he'd stay in Hokkaido, maybe not, but he couldn't go back to the Sohmas. Not ever. If Akito asked him where Yuki was, he'd have no choice but to tell him. Kyo couldn't risk that.  
  
Yuki eyed their now empty plate. "Could we maybe get some more mackerel?" he asked, shy but hopeful, and Kyo grinned.  
  
"You just read my mind, Rat."

* * *

They ended up napping together on a mat in the relaxation room, tired after their long night and their big meal. It worried Kyo how much deeper he slept with Yuki's head tucked into the crook of his arm -- it wasn't safe to sleep so deeply, so unaware of what was happening around them. And it would suck if he had to leave Yuki, and no longer had him around to sleep beside.  
  
Well. That was a problem for another day.  
  
Kyo woke when an employee wearing the ferry company's uniform gently shook his shoulder. "We're here," she told him, smiling, and went to wake the rest of the stragglers in the room.  
  
Yuki was an absolute monster to wake up in the middle of a nap. It took forever to get him on his feet. A few other passengers chuckled when Kyo hauled the boy to his feet and he just stood in one spot like a tousle-haired zombie.  
  
"Your brother isn't a morning person, is he?" someone asked, and Kyo startled. _Brother?_  
  
Zombie-Yuki shuffled along behind Kyo as they descended the stairs and stood on the deck, waiting to be moved to the dock of Hokkaido, and some new anxieties plagued Kyo as he stared around at the unfamiliar city; at its buildings and cars and people. The dock itself was much busier than the majority of the city. While most of it was farmland, here a lot of people had jobs with the ferry company, or with fisheries.

What if Mine's family decided they didn't want them after all? What if they didn't come? Kyo didn't know where they lived; he had no hope of finding them on his own...  
  
Zombie-Yuki tripped and nearly took a spill into the water. Kyo dove to catch his arm, and a tall man waiting on the dock rushed forward to drag them both to safety.  
  
"Whoa there," he laughed, and Kyo stared up at him. He was heavyset and deeply tan, with deep laugh-lines crinkling his honey-brown eyes. His black hair had gone almost entirely gray with age, and his arms were thick with muscle. "Be careful, Yuki."  
  
"Who are you?" Kyo asked, a protective hand still wrapped around Yuki's wrist.  
  
The strange giant's smile only grew wider. "Where are my manners? I'm Teiji Kuramae. Please, call me Teiji. It's so nice to meet you boys. My daughter has told me all about you."

 


	22. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if you got an email notification too early! I accidentally posted before I was ready, and had to quickly delete. It's here now!
> 
> It's been a while! I had a nervous breakdown, got some distance from an abusive family situation, moved house, and published a book! (If you're curious, [this is the book.](https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Water-All-Seas-Book-ebook/dp/B083YWMZWL/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=deep+water+l.+rambit&qid=1580081976&sr=8-1))
> 
> ... You know how it goes. Life. How very Fruits Basket of me. I'm glad I'm finally getting to finish this! Thank you for reading, and for being patient with my hiatus.

Haru gave an easy grin when Masa rapped on his door, opening it only a second later. The elderly maid once would have walked right in without even that, but had uncomfortably learned the ways of teenage boys after a few awkward encounters. Now she at least gave him a few seconds to compose himself before barging in.

"Hey, Masa," he greeted, sprawling back with his boots on his desk. "What's up?"

She gave him a dirty look. "Don't address me so informally, Hatsuharu-san. Lord Akito doesn't tolerate your modern ways, and neither will I. And take your shoes off when you're indoors!"

"Yes, _Kaseifu,"_   he sighed. He pulled his long legs back and set to unlacing his clunky black boots.

Masa Sohma watched him impassively as he set his boots in their cubby under his desk, then pulled something from her obi and handed it to him.

"Another postcard from your Kamakura penpal," she sniffed disdainfully. "I don't understand why he sends you postcards without writing anything on them."

"I told you." Haru took the postcard and tucked it under his arm, trying not to look interested or eager. "He's a first grader. They're still learning how to address mail. They'll learn how to write letters later. It's just a school thing."

He cocked his head to the side, pretending to look at a book on his desk. His hair fell over his ear.

Masa gasped. Her gnarled old hand flew to his cheek; brushed his white hair back. "What is this, Hatsuharu-san?!"

She was talking about his newest piercing; a long metal bar that speared through one side of his helix and out the other. His plan had worked: she was completely distracted from the mail.

"It's an industrial bar. It's fashionable."

"You and your fashion! This is just too much. Take it out!"

"I can't, _Kaseifu._ It's impossible to remove without help."

This was a lie, but Haru was good at lying to people who weren't Akito or Rin.

She planted her hands on her skinny hips, glowering, then pointed a finger at his chest. "You are not just yourself, Hatsuharu-san. You represent the Sohma household, and it's inexcusable to go around looking so... so _worldly._ Just wait until your mother hears about this!"

Haru fought back a snort. He could strip naked, paint himself green, and breakdance on the school roof, and still his mother wouldn't care. Case in point: he continued going to school and coming home every day, and had not seen her in several days. Surely most parents paid more attention to their children still attending middle school.

But he kept it to himself. No need to antagonize the old lady who served as Akito's personal maid.

To his great relief, a bell chimed from the main house. Muttering under her breath, Masa turned to address whatever new problem needed her attention.

Just before letting herself out of Haru's house, she stopped and turned back to address him. "Supper is at the main house at seven. You're expected to be there, clean and presentable."

Haru held back a groan. He didn't always have to eat with the family, but when he did, it was an unpleasant, stiff, and awkward experience. Still, he could see no way to wiggle out of a direct command. "Yes, _Kaseifu."_

She gave him a stiff, parting bow. He stood and returned the gesture, then sighed in relief when she stepped out and closed his door, walking up the cobblestone path towards where Akito lived.

Haru waited until her footsteps had faded before turning towards his closet. "Coast is clear."

The door slid open. Isuzu stepped out and sat on the end of his bed. She was looking grumpy; possibly because she'd have to have dinner alone, now. "What'd she bring?"

Haru pulled the postcard out from under his arm, turning it over. The postmark was addressed from the small town of Kamakura, but what the old-fashioned members of the Sohma household didn't know was that mail could be forwarded. Could be bounced around between several destinations. There was no telling where it had _really_ come from. Or who.

The picture on the postcard was of a cute, pastel scene of Noah's arc from the western Bible. Animals lined up on the bow of a ship beneath a happy-faced rainbow.

Rin took the card from Haru's hand, tilting it under the lamplight. They both saw the same thing: a faint scratch down the length of the cat's body, extending all the way to the mouse sitting beside it.

Maybe it was just damage caused by the long journey through the postal system. More likely, it had been made by a young boy's fingernail.

Rin smiled ruefully. "I'm glad," she said.

Haru nodded. "Yeah..."

He didn't know where his cousins really were, but this small proof that they were still alive and well would have to suffice for now. Maybe someday they'd be able to meet again, if the world was ever a kinder place.  
  
Rin picked up a pair of Haru's scissors and hacked the postcard into tiny pieces, then threw it in the trash basket. If anyone in the family suspected they knew something...

They wouldn't. After all, they were just kids. Helpless little things, subject to the whims of the adults surrounding them. Right?

Haru reached up, and Rin slipped her hand into his.

...

As it turned out, Hatori, Ayame, and Mine _could_ cook an acceptable meal when properly motivated. Tonight, that motivation came in the form of Kureno Sohma.

They'd served grilled yellowtail steaks for dinner, with sides of miso, tsukemono, broccoli in sesame oil, and blocks of chilled tofu with pretty curls of ginger on top. Now they picked at the remains of a small sponge cake they'd been surprised to learn Kureno had baked himself.  
  
Despite the delicious meal, the tension and awkwardness was palpable. Hatori had deliberately sat between Ayame and Mine, hoping Kureno wouldn't think it strange that the snake shared meals with his "assistant." God save them all if he glanced into Ayame's bedroom and pieced together that the two were living together. Sleeping together.

If the two artists were afraid of being found out, however, they showed no sign of it. Mine kept up a stream of conversation that left the rooster, so often confined to the compound, looking dazed. He surely wasn't used to so much outside company.

"-- And then do you remember what that customer said, boss?" Mine asked, concluding her outrageous story.

Ayame laughed heartily, tossing his mane of silky white hair over one shoulder. "How could I forget?! He asked if we would make a velour jumpsuit for the alpaca, too!"

Their combined grins were so bright that Kureno actually blinked, eyes strained. Hatori offered the younger man a sympathetic glance. _Do you see what I put up with?_ He tried to convey.  
  
Kureno gave him a tight-lipped smile in return. It looked more like a grimace.  
  
"That has to be the strangest wedding we've attended yet," Ayame sighed wistfully. "It was _fabulous."  
_

He scooped up the final bite of his cake, strawberry and all, and made to pass it to Mine. To feed it to her directly, like the loving boyfriend he was.

Panicking, Hatori took it instead, chewing and swallowing. "Thank you, Ayame."

Ayame looked mollified. Kureno just looked more confused than ever.

Mine seized on this, leaning across the table, taking Kureno's arm. "I can't help but notice that you're very handsome!" She said brightly.

It was remarkable how quickly Kureno went red and cross-eyed. He looked like he wanted to run away as fast as his legs would carry him. "Um!"

"Oh, yes; you must be a Sohma, alright. That delicate face... That _hair..._ It's the red of freshly fallen Autumn leaves! Boss, can't we make him something nice? Even just a simple robe... Indigo... Perhaps emerald... Oh, but he'd look simply _edible_ in drag..."

She reached across the table to touch Kureno's hair. He scrambled back before their chests could brush. Before his curse would be revealed.

"Mine," Hatori chided gently. "Tonight isn't for work. Kureno wanted to talk to us about something important, didn't he?"  
  
He had to admire Mine's tactics, blunt as they were. Kureno was looking so terrified, so caught off-guard, that it was a long moment before he gathered his thoughts again. "Um. Yes, r-right. Yes." 

He cleared his throat and straightened up, though he did not sit as close to the table as he had before. Clearing his throat, he met Ayame's eyes. "I'll make this quick. Lord Akito has asked me to check up with you, regarding your brother."

Ayame's bemused expression did not fall. Mine's did. For just a second, her jaw clenched. Her eyes flashed cold hatred. It had been eight months since Yuki and Kyo's daring escape. Eight months since Ayame had been beaten black and blue.

Hatori doubted it mattered whether it was eight months, or eight hundred. Mine would never forgive the people responsible for hurting her lover.

Privately, Hatori was grateful. The fact that someone was there to notice, to _care_ what happened to them inside the confines of the Sohma, was a breath of fresh air in a suffocating cage. A reminder that they were still people. That, to someone "real", they still mattered.

 _Someone_ should be angry about what happened to Ayame, even if they weren't allowed to be.

"What is there to say?" Ayame asked. "He ran away, and I haven't heard from him since. He could be anywhere. He could be dead. I wouldn't know."

Kureno held his eyes. "You truly have no idea where he might be?"

"No," said, happy to be truthful.

Kureno turned his gaze onto Mine. "And you? You don't know anything, either?"

"No," she replied, happy to be lying.

Silence lingered. Hatori could hear the low hum of electricity in Verne's tank, as her heater warmed up. He heard the ice cubes settle in the freezer. He felt Mine's leg press to his on one side, and Ayame's on the other. They both sought comfort, serenity, from the dragon.

He tried to give it to them, as best as possible. When Mine's hand brushed his underneath the table, he took it.

"Very well," Kureno said, apparently satisfied. "Then I won't keep you. I have a long drive home, so I'd best get started."

Ayame leapt to his feet, cheerfully assembling a box of leftovers for the protesting rooster to take back to the main house. ("Visit us any time, _mon ami!_ Mine and I would so love to improve your drab wardrobe...")

Hatori simply sank back on the cushion he knelt on, both relieved and deflated. This performance, this stress, truly wore him out. Sapped his energy.

Mine gave his hand a pat, then let him go.

"Are you going to come home with me, Hatori-san?" Kureno asked him. "I'm sure Lord Akito will need your assistance soon."

Hatori bit his lip. He... He didn't want to leave. Ayame's overheated, humid apartment was the only place he felt like he could catch a breath. That he didn't have to hide, to lie, to fear.

It was an illusion, of course. There was no freedom to be found; not even here.

(Not for you, anyway. But for the children...)

Right. Yuki and Kyo. Their escape. Their freedom. The hope it brought; that one day, the other Sohmas might find the same.

If he kept them in mind, then he could be just a little stronger. He could hold out a little longer. "Yes," he told the younger man. "Do you want me to drive?"

Kureno nodded. They stood and gathered their things and made to leave.

Ayame caught Hatori's arm, pulling the taller man into an embrace. Hatori thought hugging would always feel unnatural; uncomfortable; but Ayame said he needed it. He said 'when' (not 'if') their curses broke, they needed to know how to do it properly.

Hatori wasn't sure about that, but it wasn't really a sacrifice to play along. To rub up and down Ayame's back, and hear him sigh happily. Hatori wouldn't have done it for anyone else, but for this man, he'd make an exception.

Mine stood on tiptoe, so Hatori ducked down, allowing her to kiss his cheek. He gave her a gentle smile; patted her on the shoulder.

When he turned to the door, he saw that Kureno was watching them with an odd look on his face. No doubt the amount of physical contact displayed made him nervous. Hatori made an effort not to brush against him as he stepped out and walked downstairs; outside, to the parking lot below.

"Mind if I smoke?" Hatori asked as they got into the sleek black Sohma car.

Kureno shook his head no, buckling his seatbelt. He still looked like such a boy. Barely twenty, he hadn't quite lost the baby fat, the freckles of his teen years. Hatori still remembered him as the wide-eyed tagalong cousin who admired the older boys so much.

When had Akito made him into this fearful, subservient creature?

The thought made Hatori feel glum. He quickly brushed it aside. Their family was nothing but tragedy; what was one more? If he allowed his heart to be moved by every little thing, he'd feel too heavy to get out of bed ever again.

"Hatori-san?" Kureno asked, voice small, as he backed the car from the parking space and drove to the freeway, leaving Ayame's shop behind.

"Mm?" Hatori ashed his cigarette into the car's ashtray. Adjusted the rearview mirror. Rested his forearm on the steering wheel.

"Do you... You think Kyo and Yuki are still alive, don't you?"

Hatori glanced at the younger man, surprised. Kureno sat stiffly in the passenger's seat, his hands on his knees, staring out the passenger window at the city night outside. He looked young. He looked worried.

"I do," Hatori answered. "Call it a gut instinct."

Kureno sighed. Swallowed. Nodded. "Yeah," he agreed. "Yeah, I'm... That's good. They're just kids, y'know."

Hmm. A small surprise, but a welcome one. Kureno was still a person, after all; not _just_ Akito's puppet.

Hatori slung his free arm around the man's back, gently squeezing the back of his neck in a friendly way.

Kureno went very stiff, unused to physical contact, but made an effort to hold still. To accept it. After a few moments, he leaned back against Hatori.

Slowly, slowly, things were changing for all of them. Whatever their future held, Hatori suspected big changes were on the horizon. He planned to be ready to meet them when they came.

  
  
_~ fin ~_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The [elderly Sohma maid's](https://fruitsbasket.fandom.com/wiki/Sohma_Maid) name was never mentioned, so I named her まさ (Masa) to mean "correct, righteous."
> 
> "Kaseifu" is a formal home helper, often a nurse for a sick person who is fed, bathed, cleaned, administered medicines, etc.


End file.
